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VETERAN1  NATIONAL  CONVENTION 
PITTSBURGH,  1872 

Our  soldiers  and  sailors: 
what,  they  said  and  did 


E 

675 

V58 


OUR 


SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS : 


WHAT   THEY   SAID   AND   DID 


ON     THE 


AT 


PITTSBURGH, 


SEPTEMBEE  17TH  AND  1STH,  1872. 


EEPORTED  BY  SAMUEL  W.  CUEEIDEN,  STENOGRAPHER. 


NEW   YOEK: 

FOR   SALE   BY    AMERICAN   NEWS   COMPANY,  NASSAU    ST. 

1872. 


AVynkoop  £  Hallenbeck,  Printers,  113  Pulton  Street,  N.  Y. 


PITKTN   &    CO 


WHOLESALE  DEALERS  IX 


Campaign  Uniforms  and  Bovernment  Clothinj 

NO.  71  NORTH  SECOND  STREET,   PHILADELPHIA,  PA., 

AND 

NO.   110  CHAMBERS  STREET,   NEW   YORK. 


WHOLESALE    PRICE    LIST. 

:::::::::: 


per  hundred  •extra." 


Blue 

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I"  A''  Hlllri  it 


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Kl:  100. 

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1  hn.^:,  solit  unless  order  is 

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PITKIN    cSd,    CO. 


on. 


SOLDIERS  AND  SAILOKS : 


WHAT  THEY  SAID  AND  DID 


ON     THE 


TENTH  ANNIVERSARY  OF  THE  BATTLE 
OF  ANTIETAM, 


AT 


iPITTSBTJUGl,    [PEN  1ST  A.., 

SEPTEMBER  17TH  AOT  18TH,  1872. 


BY  SAMUEL  W.  CURRIDEN, 

OFFICIAL    STENOGRAPHER. 


NEW  YORK: 
PUBLISHED  BT  VETERANS'  NATIONAL  COMMITTEE. 

1872. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SANTA  BARBARA 


THE  VETERANS'  NATIONAL  CONVENTION. 


THE  PRELIMINARY  ORGANIZATION. 

AN  informal  meeting  of  soldiers  and  sailors  who  were  present  in  Philadel- 
phia, Pa.,  in  attendance  upon  the  Republican  National  Convention,  convened 
at  Assembly  Hall,  in  that  city,  on  the  evening  of  June  5th,  and  organized  with 
General  Ambrose  E.  Burnside,  of  Rhode  Island,  as  chairman,  and  General 
Daniel  Woodall,  of  Delaware,  as  secretary.  On  motion  of  Col.  L.  E.  Dudley, 
it  was  resolved  that  a  committee  of  one  from  each  State  be  appointed  by  the 
chair,  and  that  said  committee  be  instructed  to  issue  a  call  for  a  National  Mass 
Convention  of  Soldiers  and  Sailors. 

At  a  meeting  held  on  the  following  morning  the  committee  was  announced, 
and  requested  to  meet,  the  same  evening,  at  the  Continental  Hotel.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  committee  Gen.  A.  E.  Burnside  was  added  as  a  member  at  large, 
and  elected  its  chairman,  and  Col.  L.  E.  Dudley  was  elected  secretary.  The 
officers  of  the  committee  were  then  authorized  to  prepare  and  issue  the  call, 
which  they  did  on  the  5th  of  July,  in  the  following  words : — 

THE  CALL. 

HEADQUARTERS  VETERANS'  NATIONAL  COMMITTEE, 
FIFTH  AVENUE  HOTEL, 

NEW  YORK  CITY,  July  5,  1872. 
To  the  Soldiers  and  Sailors  who  served  in  the  Union  Army  and  Navy  during  the  late  War: 

Comrades — The  undersigned,  a  committee  appointed  for  the  purpose  by  a  meeting  of 
veterans  from  all  sections  of  the  country,  who  were  assembled  in  Philadelphia  upon  the  5th 
day  of  June,  in  attendance  upon  the  Eepublican  National  Convention,  and  which  meeting 
unanimously  resolved  to  abide  by  and  support  the  nominations  of  said  convention,  hereby 
Invite  you  to  meet  in  mass  convention  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  on  the  17th  day  of  September,  187xJ, 
for  the  purpose  of  expressing  our  unreserved  belief  that  the  destinies  of  this  country,  for  thu 
ensuing  four  years,  should  be  under  the  protection  of  men  who  never  faltered  in  the  hour  of 
our  country's  greatest  danger.  We  believe  that  men  should  be  placed  in  high  positions  of 
State,  who,  in  the  hour  of  our  greatest  peril,  gave  that  intellect,  personal  reputation,  and 
personal  faith,  in,  the  justness  of  our  cause,  which  was  necessary  to  save  the  country  and 
place  us  in  the  position  we  now  occupy. 

We  congratulate  ourselves  upon  the  fact  that  the  government,  during  the  past  three  and 
one-half  years,  has  been  administered  by  one  of  our  comrades,  who  has  shown  wonderful 
civil  capacity  in  aiding  the  reduction  of  the  public  debt,  in  conducting  our  foreign  affairs 
with  great  skill,  so  that  we  now  stand  at  peace  with  the  whole  world,  and  in  preserving 
j^eace  in  sections  of  our  country  where  sentiments  were  entertained  calculated  to  disturb  the 
;  ^organization  of  the  States  lately  in  rebellion.  We  have  full  faith  in  him  as  a  peaceful 
man,  because,  had  he  felt  disposed  to  exercise  his  power  as  a  personal  governor,  he  would 
li&ve  done  it  while  nearly  a  million  of  men  were  in  arms  and  under  his  comm.i:id.  instead  of 


uidiiig,  as  he  did,  the  rapid  reduction  of  the  army  to  a  peace  footing.  We  believe  him  to  be 
.  capable,  and  courageous. 

\\  '••  believe  that  it  will  be  a  source  of  pleasure  to  all  who  battled  for  the  Union,  to  meet 
once  more  and  revive  the  memories  of  our  old  campaigns. 

YW  believe  that  an  expression  of  the  feelings  and  opinions  of  those  who  defended  the 
nation  on  land  and  sea  would,  at  this  time,  be  most  opportune. 

We  believe  that  such  an  expression  would  be  regarded  by  all  right-thinking  men  as  one 
proper  to  be  made ;  and  that  it  would  be  productive  of  the  most  beneficial  results. 

We  believe  that  our  comrades  universally  desire  that  such  measures  shall  prevail  as  will 
secure  the  greatest  possible  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  whole  people. 

V\  i-  believe  that  our  country's  old  defenders  are  actuated  by  no  partisan  or  factious  mo- 
tives, but  are  in  favor  of  good  government,  purity  of  public  men  and  measures,  and  the  ele- 
vation and  purification  of  our  institutions. 

We  believe  that  while  all  the  old  veterans  are  loyalists  in  the  extreme,  and  utterly  op- 
posed to  any  doctrine  which  would  tend,  in  the  slightest  degree,  to  revive  the  heresy  ot 
eocession,  they  are  desirous  of  extending  charity  and  full  forgiveness  to  all  of  their  former 
enemies  in  the  field  who  now  recognize  or  who  may  hereafter  recognize  the  great  wrong  that 
they  have  done  to  our  country. 

Believing,  as  we  do,  that  great  good  will  result  from  the  meeting  proposed,  \ve  most 
cordially  and  earnestly  invite  all  our  former  comrades  to  meet  with  us  at  Pilt&burg,  an  the 
it-nth  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Antietam,  September  17,  1872. 

Let  us  come  together  again,  as  we  did  in  1861,  sinking  all  partisan  differences,  take  our 
stand  now,  as  then,  for  our  country,  and,  before  and  beyond  all  else,  labor  for  her  honor  and 
glory.  Fraternally  yours, 

GENERAL  A.  E.  BURNSIDE,  Chairman. 
L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary. 

Gen.  POWELL  CLAYTON,  Gen.  J.  T.  AVERILL,  Capt.  BARBOUR  LEWIS, 

"    (ii  c.nci:  K.  Sri  NCER,  Maj.  O.  C.  FRENCH,  Gen.  W.  G.  VEASKY, 

Col.  .1  AMI  -  (  «.i  Y.  B.  B.  CAHOON,  Cant.  W.  H.  H.  STOWKLL, 

.SBY,  Gen.  A.  M.  DENNISON,  Col.  .JAMES  II.  PLAIT, 


S<  n..  I  >.  .\i  1:1:1  ••!>!  i  ir. 
tin  \\\  ii. u:  M.  DODGE, 

I.  'Mt.   Cul.    K.  .1.    HIM  (>X, 

<:  -n.  Joii.v  M.  ll.\i:i..\\. 
JAS.  D.  FESSKNUEV, 
Si:i.i.i;\  ( !o» 
ll«n:.\t  i.  15.  SARGEANT, 

.1.   II.  DfVALL, 

i-:.  \v.  1 1  INK-. 


A.  F.  STEVENS,  Gen.  Lucius  FAIUCHILD, 

WILLIAM  WARD,  Col.  JAMKS  LEWIS, 

S.  L.  WOODFORD,  Gen.  JOSEPH  C.  ABBOTT, 
F.  C.  BARLOW.  "    E.  F.  NOYKS, 

I»AMI:I  VYiKinAij,,  "    JAMES  S.  NEGLEY, 

CIIAS.  M.  HAMILTON,        "    EDWARD  McCooK, 
Loi  is  ('.  WA»;NER,  "    N.  P.  CMII-MAN, 

C.  H.  T.  COLLIS,  Maj.  JOSEPH  W.  HOUSTON, 

A.  L.  PIERSON,  Gen.  B.  F.  POITS, 


.JM-I:I-II  K'.  HAWI.KY,      Capt.  A.  W.  NOKKIS.  Col.  WILLIAM  BREEDKX, 

JAZ.  II.  V.\\  AI.KX,        Gen.  CIIAIM.KS  R.  BKAYTON,  Gen.  GEO.  A.  MAXWELL, 
F.  W.  S\vn --,.  "    JAMI->  DAVII.SON,  "    J.  W.  KISIIKI:. 

All  soldiers  and  sailors  who  approve  the  objects  of    this  call,  are  requested  to  com- 
municate with  the  committee,  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  New  York  City. 

Immediately  after  promulgating  the  call,  the  committee  prepared  blanks 

;uid  distributed  them  throughout  the  country,  with  a  view  of  securing  an  e.\- 

m  dt'  the  veterans  upon  the  views  set  forth  in  the  call,  and  received  the 

rignatmes  of  fully  fifty  thousand  soldiers  and  sailors,  in  approval  of  the  objects 

of  the  Convention. 

While  the  committee  believed  that  the  Convention  itself  would  be  of  greah 
•  •  in  ihe  campaign,  it  decided  that,  if  thorough  organization  of  the  veter- 
.  the  country  could  be  secured,  that  much  effective  work  could  be  done 


and  that  the  results  of  the  Convention  would  be  felt  jn  every  State ;  therefore 
the  following  circular  letter  was  sent  to  prominent  veterans  in  each  State,  and 
in  most  has  resulted  in  the  formation  of  veterans'  clubs,  to  act  in  harmony  with 
and  aid  the  regular  Republican  organizations. 

LETTER  INVITING  ORGANIZATION. 

HEADQUARTERS  VETERANS'  NATIONAL  COMMITTEE, 
FIFTH  AVENUE  HOTEL, 

NEW  YORK  CITY,  July  30, 1872. 

Dear  Sir — I  take  great  pleasure  in  informing  you  that  the  call  of  this  committee  for  a 
National  Convention  of  Veterans  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  Sept.  17th,  has  met  with  a  most  hearty 
response  from  individual  veterans  of  all  ranks  from  every  State.  No  doubt  now  exists  that 
our  reunion  will  eclipse  all  former  ones  in  point  of  numbers,  enthusiasm,  and  importance. 
We  feel  confident  that  not  less  than  twenty-five  thousand  veterans  will  be  in  attendance. 
Many  clubs  and  associations  will  attend  en  masse. 

It  is  believed  that  this  meeting,  if  preceded  and  followed  by  thorough  organization  of 
the  old  soldiers  in  every  town  and  city  throughout  the  Union,  would  be  one  of  the  most 
potential  agencies  that  could  be  brought  to  bear  in  this  campaign.  It  would  arouse,  among 
all  classes  of  citizens,  the  old  feeling  of  patriotism  and  devotion  to  the  country  which  was  its 
salvation  in  the  time  of  war. 

We  desire  to  institute  such  organizations  at  once  in  every  State,  and  desire  to  enlist  your 
active  co-operation.  Will  you  endeavor  to  organize  the  veterans  of  your  State,  or  induce 
some  one,  or  more,  in  whom  you  have  confidence,  to  immediately  inaugurate  such  a  move- 
ment? If  you  could  correspond  with  prominent  veterans  in  every  county,  and  suggest  to 
them  the  propriety  of  organizing  a  "  Grant  and  Wilson  Veterans'  Association "  in  every 
town  in  their  respective  counties,  each  of  these  clubs  could  send  as  large  a  delegation  as 
possible  to  Pittsburg,  and  thereby  swell  the  gathering  and  increase  the  enthusiasm  there,  and, 
returning  from  thence,  they  would  permeate  the  whole  country  with  the  old  feeling  of  patri- 
otism and  devoted  loyalty. 

This  committee  cordially  invite  correspondence  from  all  local  organizations,  and  will  take 
pleasure  in  affording  all  information  in  their  power. 

Please  reply  at  your  earliest  convenience,  that  we  may  know  what  to  expect  from  your 
State. 

Very  truly  yours, 

A.  E.  BUENSIDE, 

L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary.  Chairman. 

LETTERS  RECEIVED. 

In  response  to  the  call  several  thousand  letters  were  received  from  all  sec- 
tions of  the  country.  To  give  all  these  letters  in  full  would  take  much  more 
space  than  can  be  afforded  in  these  pages ;  but  we  have  selected  a  few  of  the 
more  important,  with  extracts  from  many  others. 

FROM  GENERAL  O.   O.   HOWARD. 

ASTOR  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK  CITY,  July  15,  1872. 

GEN.  A.  E.  BURNSIDE,  Chairman  Veterans1  National  Committee,  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  New 
York  City  : 

Dear  General — Your  circular,  accompanied  by  the  kind  invitation  of  your  secretary  to 
be  present  on  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Antietam,  and  take  part  in  the  exercises  at  Pitts- 
burg, 17th  of  September  next,  is  just  received.  I  have  carefully  read  your  call,  and  am  will- 
ing to  adopt  its  sentiments  as  my  own.  I  am,  perhaps,  for  a  very  warm  recognition  of  those 
who  have  been  our  enemies,  when  they  step  upon  our  platform,  and  would  most  heartily 
say,  "  Let  us  be  brethren."  I  believe  it  is  better,  more  for  the  durability  of  our  Government, 
and  certainly  safer  to  our  public  credit,  that  no  radical  change  of  administration  should  now 
take  place.  I  am  very  much  interested  in  the  Indian  tribes  that  are  now  rapidly  coming  into 
the  light  of  our  civilization.  I  should  dislike  exceedingly  to  have  the  great  body  of  religious 
and  benevolent  societies  suddenly  deprived  of  the  privilege  of  nominating  agencies,  which 
has  begun  to  work  so  grandly  in  the  line  of  reform ;  and  for  a  thousand  other  reasons,  be- 
sides my  personal  feeliners  of  sincere  regard  for  him  who  has  led  us  to  victory  and  to  safety, 


fit 

rnv  words  and  inv  acts  will  be  in  In-half  of  the  present  incumbent  of  the  presidential  chair. 
I  Am  an   an  ih'i'U    partisan   feeling,  ready  to  do   my  duty  under  any  leader  my 

couiitrviufii  -  ;  l>at,  (lod  knows  that  I  do  love  a  man  like  lien,  (irant,  who  docs  per- 

'.'.t  words  and  in  acts  in  tlie  practical  recognition  of  human  rights  to  ail  classes  of  our 
fellow-nien.  I  fear  that  I  will  not  be  able  to  join  you  at  Pittsburg,  as  my  duties  are  likely  to 
keep  me  ou  the  frontier. 

Sincerely  yours, 

O.  O.  HOWARD. 

FROM  GENERAL  B.  8.   ROBERTS. 

NEW  HAVEN,  July  11,  1872. 
L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  : 

I <  .',•  >/V     Y»ur  circular  nnd  note  came  to  me  this  morning,  although  dated  -th  instant. 

of  putting  forth  any  opinion  I  may  have  of  (Jen.  Grant,  as  it  could  not  possibly  have 

influence  with  parties,  partisans,  or  politicians,  I  send  you  an  autograph   letter  of  the  late 

Major  '  •  H.  Thomas,  that  goes  directly  to  the  great  issues  of  the  day,  and  is  an 

-;<m  of  the  judgment  of  tin-  soundest  and  ni;>st  solia  soldier  of  the  Union  Army,  who 

km-w  lien.  (»rant  intimately  and  thoroughly. 

Were  (ien.  Thomas  living,  I  do  not  doubt — modest  and  silent  ns  he  was  by  nature,  and 
by  education  and  habit  averse  to  notoriety  and  meaningless  public  applause  -  that  his  pen  and 
>\'>iili!  have  sustained  Grant  now,  as  his  sword  and  loyal  nature  sustained  him  when  he 
sin-it*'  Hood  "hip  and  thigh"  at  Nashville,  and  destroyed  the  last  hope  of  the  rebellion.  I 
consid'-r  the  meeting  of  the  veterans  at  Pittsburg  as  the  Hank  movement  of  the  campaign, 
that,  more  than  any  other  single  evolution,  is  to  decide  the  election.  It  is  my  purpose  to 
attend  in  person,  and  to  DM  my  influence  in  gathering  others  from  New  England  at  1'itts- 
btirg.  When  the  old  veterans  sound  their  '  assembly  "  it  is  a  terrible  "bugle-blast ''  for  the 
enemy,  and  certainly  none  know  so  well  as  they  where  the  enemy's  magazines  are,  and  how 
to  drop  bombs  and  shells  to  explode  them. 

Very  truly  yours, 

li.'s.   K'OBERTS, 
Brigadier-General  United  States  Army  (retired). 

WHAT  GENERAL  GEORGE  H.  THOMAS  THOUGHT. 

Tli-  i'  .11  >  viv-  is  the  letter  from  Gen.  Thomas,  referred  to  above: — 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.,  Dec.  8, 1869. 
<•'!  v  R.  S.  ROBKKTS: 

Dear  General — I  have  had  your  letter  of  the  22d  of  November  in  my  possession  some 


which  ihi-  people  i.f  the  I'nited  States  do  things.  We  have  no  stability,  but  are  constantly 
not  only  on  the  go,  lint  rush  mutters  to  the  verge  of  confusion,  if  not  of  ruin.  I  sometimes 
think  we,  as  a  people,  are  specially  guarded  by  an  all-wise  Providence,  else  our  recklessness 
would  h::v.- loinr  since  involved  the  nation  in  hopeless  confusion.  No  sooner  are  public, 
affairs  rescued  from  discord,  and  the  offices  filled  with  men  who  to  all  appearances  are  the 
undoubted  choice  of  the  people,  than  new  combinations  are  formed  to  destroy  the  incumbents — 
if  not  in  character,  at  least  in  usefulness— and  M-J  up  a  new  set  almost  unknown,  and  certainly 
of  doubtful  experience.  I  would  not  like  to  see  any  alteration  in  the  executive  for  the  next 
t  incumbent  should  prove  incapacitated  for  his  position  before 

I'iration  .,f  hi<  first  term.     1  think  he  has  commenced  very  fair,  and  I  sincerely  hope 
he  may  succeed  to  such  a  degree  as  to  compel  his  re-election  for  another  term. 

I  am  very  tmlv  vours. 

GEORGE  H.  THOMAS. 

FROM  GOV.  NOTES. 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO,  July  16,  1872. 

L  1".  HniNsiDE,  Chairman  Veterans'  National  Committee,  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  New 
\',,rk  City: 

General— I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  your  favor  cf  the  8th  instant.     I 
shall  take  great  satisfaction  in  co-operating  with  your  committee  to  the  end  that  the  Pittsbuvg 


Convention.  Sept.  17th,  may  be  a  success.  I  shall  send  circulars  all  over  the  State  in  a  few 
days,  and  will  soon  forward  to  you  the  names  and  addresses  of  prominent  soldiers  and  sailors, 
in  order  that  you  may  communicate  with  them  from  headquarters  directly.  In  my  judg- 
ment the  importance  of  this  meeting  cannot  be  overrated.  I  shall  see  you  at  the  convention. 

Very  truly  your  obedient  servant, 

EDWAED  F.  NOYES. 

FROM  GENERAL  E.  W.  RICE. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  July  8,  1872. 
GEN.  A.  E.  BtTRNSlDE,  Chairman  Veterans'  National  Committee,  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  New 

York  City : 

General — I  beg  to  assure  you  of  my  most  hearty  approval  of  the  call  for  a  general  con- 
vention of  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  late  war,  to  meet  at  Pittsburg  on  the  17th  of  September 
next. 

When  Gen.  Grant  was  first  nominated,  the  voice  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  was  unani- 
mously and  enthusiastically  expressed  at  our  convention  at  Chicago,  and  was  gloriously 
seconded  by  the  delegates  of  the  loyal  masses  in  the  Republican  Convention  the  following 
day,  notwithstanding  the  well-known  fact  that  many  Republican  politicians  were  opposed  to 
the  soldiers'  choice.  Now,  the  great  voting  masses  of  the  Republican  party,  appreciating  the 
integrity  and  wisdom  of  the  administration,  have,  through  their  instructed  delegates  at  Phil- 
adelphia, again  tendered  us  our  chief  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  and  again  he  is  bit- 
terly assailed  and  violently  opposed  by  the  politicians  who  did  not  succeed  in  dictating  his 
policy  or  controlling  his  patronage;  and  it  is  not  only  proper,  but  exceedingly  important  that 
we  assemble  and  respond  to  their  announced  confidence  and  desire  in  terms  as  honest  and 
earnest  as  they  expressed  them,  and  give  them  the  positive  assurance  of  our  hearty  indorse- 
ment of  their  action,  and  make  known  our  great  anxiety  that  the  Government  shall  continue 
in  its  present  policy,  and  under  control  of  its  friends  who  preserved  its  integrity  and  its 
honor,  and  that  it  may  be  shielded  from  those  who  seek  to  seize  it  for  purely  personal  pur- 
poses and  divide  its  favors  and  its  revenue  with  its  enemies.  I  will  be  with  you  at  Pittsburg, 
and  have  the  honor  to  be,  General,  Very  respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 

E.  W.  RICE, 
Late  Brevet  Major-General  from  Iowa. 

FROM  COLONEL  T.  W.  HIGGIXSON. 

NEWPORT,  R.  L,  August  8, 1R72. 
L.  E.  DUDLEY,  ESQ.,  Secretary  Veterans'  National  Committee  : 

Dear  Sir — Thank  you  for  your  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  Pittsburg  Convention  and 
to  address  it.  I  shall  do  so,  if  possible,  and,  at  any  rate,  the  Convention  will  have  my  best 
wishes. 

I  wish  frankly  to  say  that  I  was  opposed  to  the  renomination  of  President  Grant,  but 
am  in  favor  of  his  election.  I  see  no  reason  for  deserting  to  the  enemy  because  I  have  exer- 
cised the  soldier's  privilege  of  grumbling  at  my  general. 

There  seems  to  me  no  safety  for  the  reconstruction  measures  except  in  the  hands  of  the 
party  which  passed  them. 

The  main  war-cry  of  the  new  party  appears  to  be  the  overthrow  of  centralization ;  and 
what  they  call  centralization  is  simply  the  effort  of  a  national  government  to  save  itself 
from  being  murdered.  In  such  a  contest,  I  am  with  the  Government. 

Very  truly  yours, 
THOMAS  WENTWORTH  HIGGLNSON, 

Late  Colonel  Thirty-third  U.  S.  C.  T. 

FROM  GENERAL  CHARLES  DEVENS,  JR. 

WORCESTER,  MASS.,  July  18,  1872. 

Dear  Sir — I  have  your  note  on  behalf  of  the  committee,  requesting  me  to  be  r  resent  at 
the  Convention  in  Pittsburg,  on  the  17th  of  September,  and  am  rauch  honored  by  it.  My 
engagements  render  it  absolutely  impossible  for  me  to  accept  it,  but  I  sincerely  trust  that  the 
gathering  will  prove  of  gieat  advantage  to  the  good  cause. 

Yours  very  respectfully, 

CHAS.  DEVENS,  JR. 
To  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Sec'y  Vets.  Nat.  Com. 


FROM   GENERAL  JAMKS  S.  N KG  LEY. 

"  I  am  warmly  interested  in  the  movement  contemplated  by  the  National  Committee  of 
Veteran.-.  Tin-  proposed  Convention  at  Pittsburg,  on  bept.  17th,  has  induce-'  me  to  change 
my  intention  of  visiting  the  Pacific  coast  this  summer.  I  shall  remain  at  home  to  contribute 
.il  attention  ti>  the  objects  of  the  assembly.  Six  years  since  (I860)  I  enjoyed  the  sat- 
isfaction of  witnessing  an  immense  gathering  of  returned  soldiers  in  Pittsburg.  The  en- 
thusiasm produced  in  the  State  by  the  meeting  yielded  profitable  results  at  the  October 
.  l.vtiou  oi  that  year." 

FROM  GENERAL  M.   D.   LEGGETT. 

\\ 'A-IIINGTON,  D.  C.,  July  16,  1872. 

Dear  Sir — I  have  just  returned  from  a  trip  West,  and  find  your  favor  inviting  me  to 

attend  and  address  a  meeting  at  Pittslmrir,  of  the  old  army  and  navy,  in  September.     If 

alive,  I  shall  certainly  give  myself  the  pleasure  of  attending  that  meeting,  and  if  occasion 

A  ill  speak  as  the  spirit  may  move.    My  head  and  heart  are  in  full  accord  with  the 

object  of  that  meeting. 

Very  respectfully, 
Col.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Se<?y,  etc.  M.  D.  LEGGETT. 

FROM  GENERAL  M.  F.   FORCE. 

CINCINNATI,  August  16,  1872. 
Col.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  : 

Colonel — Your  letter  inviting  me  to  the  Convention  of  Soldiers  and  Sailors,  to  be  held 
at  Pittsburg  next  month,  came  while  I  was  out  of  town.  I  am  glad  such  a  convention  is  to  be 
held.  \Ve,  who  knew  General  Grant  in  the  field,  when  the  stress  of  emergencies  brought 
the  inmost  traits  of  character  to  the  surface,  know  he  is  an  honest,  sober,  pure-minded  man, 
upright,  faithful,  patient,  devoted  to  duty,  and  those  who  know  him  best  honor  him  most. 

As  persons  holding  the  office  of  judge  abstain  from  taking  part  in  political  meetings,  I 
refrain  from  going  to  this,  but  I  cannot  refrain  from  having  and  expressing  an  opinion  about 
our  old  leader. 

Four  years  ago,  while  whisky  was  selling  all  over  the  country  for  less  than  the  tax  on 
its  production,  distillers  and  tax-gatherei>  u .  i  e  {.'rowing  rich ;  now  the  "  Whisky  King "  has 
away,  and  officials  do  their  strict  duty.  Four  years  ago  the  combination  called  the 
"'  Indian  King  "  was  so  strongly  intrenched  that  it  was  held  impregnable.  It  has  vanished, 
and  supplies  for  the  Indians  are  purchased  and  disbursed  honestly.  Four  years  ago  our 
difficulties  with  England  seemed  inextricable,  and  many  people  looked  for  war  for  a  settle- 
ment. England  has  made  apology  in  a  solemn  treaty,  and  all  questions  arc  disposed  of  in 
a  way  honorable  to  both  nations. 

Long  usage,  amounting  to  an  unwritten  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  has  thrown 
into  the  hands  of  the  members  of  Congress  the  substantial  appointment  of  a  large  part  of 
the  public  offices,  and  these  appointments  being  naturally  given  for  political  service,  some 
kid  appointments  are  inevitable.  Gen.  Grant,  almost  unaided  and  alone,  has  attempted  to  cut 
this  evil  up  by  the  roots.  His  aim  is  shown  in  the  appointments  left  in  the  actual  control 
of  the  President :  the  Indian  Commissioners,  the  Commissioners  to  treat  with  England,  and 
the  Geneva  appointments,  are  above  cavil. 

t  reatment  of  the  Southern  people  has  been,  from  Lee's  surrender  to  the  present  day, 
just  without  harshness,  kind  and  magnanimous  without  sentimentality. 

paring  his  administration  not  with  an  ideal  standard,  but  with  the  condition  of 
things  four  years  ago,  it  is  fair  to  say  that  he  has  done  at  least  as  much  as  any  other  Presi- 
dent to  improve  and  elevate  the  public  service.  The  cloud  of  abuse  which  disappointed  men 
have  blown  about  him  will,  iu  due  time,  pass  away,  and  his  administration  will  shine 
in  history. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

M.  F.  FORCE. 

FROM  GENERAL  JAMES  A.  EKIN. 

LOUISVILLE,  KY.,  August  2, 1872. 

Col.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  Veterans?  National  Committee,  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  N.  T.  City  : 

My  Dear  Colonel — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  16th 

ult.,  informing  me  that  "  A  Grand  National  Mass  Convention  of  Veterans  will  be  held  at 


Pirtsburg,  Penn.,  on  the  tenth  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Antietam,  the  17th  of  September 
next,"  and  inviting  me  to  be  present  and  address  the  Convention. 

Absence  from  the  city  has  prevented  an  earlier  reply. 

Pittsburg  is  my  native  city,  and  to  meet  my  brother  veterans  at  my  old  home,  in  the 
midst  of  my  friends  and  neighbors,  on  such  an  interesting  and  important  occasion,  will  afford 
me  unspeakable  pleasure. 

Your  kind  invitation  is  most  heartily  accepted,  and  I  trust  that  nothing  may  prevent  me 
from  being  with  you  at  the  time  indicated. 

I  sympathize  fully  with  the  object  of  the  contemplated  Convention,  and  it  affords  me 
unfeigned  pleasure  to  indorse  the  sentiments  of  the  committee,  "  that  the  destinies  of  this 
country  for  the  ensuing  four  years  should  be  under  the  protection  of  men  who  never  faltered 
in  the  hour  of  our  country's  greatest  danger/' 

I  sincerely  believe  that  this  sentiment  will  receive  a  hearty  response  from  the  true  and 
noble  men  throughout  the  Republic,  and  will  be  ratified  by  the  American  people  in  a  manner 
that  will  gladden  the  hearts  of  not  only  the  men  who  periled  their  lives  in  defense  of  the  flag, 
but  of  all  those  who  love  and  desire  the  perpetuation  of  the  liberties  we  now  enjoy.  May 
they  be  perpetual.  Heartily  thanking  you  for  your  invitation,  and  with  my  best  wishes  for 
the  triumph  of  the  principles  represented  by  your  patriotic  organization, 

I  am,  dear  sir,  very  respectfully, 

JAMES  A.  EKIN, 
Brevet.  Brig.-GenL  U.  8.  A. 

FROM  GENERAL  SELDEN  CONNOR. 

AUGUSTA,  MAINE,  July  27, 1872. 
Col.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  Veterans?  National  Committee  : 

Dear  Sir — I  regret  exceedingly  that  I  am  unable  to  accept  the  invitation  you  extend  to 
me  to  address  the  Mass  Convention  of  Soldiers  and  Sailors  which  is  to  be  held  at  Pittsburg 
on  the  17th  of  September  next. 

I  can  well  believe  that  the  defenders  of  the  Union,  gathered  together  in  such  an  assem- 
blage to  do  it  peaceful  service,  reviewing  the  glorious  results  accomplished  by  their  great 
chief  in  leading  the  country  through  peace  to  prosperity,  regarding  the  patriotic  and  consist- 
ent course  of  the  party  of  the  Union,  and  confronting  the  thinly  disguised  dangers  that 
threaten  the  country  in  the  efforts  of  a  selfish  opposition  to  obtain  power,  will  be  re-animated 
by  the  enthusiasm  of  devotion  to  country  that  inspired  them  in  '61. 

The  citizen-soldiers,  who  aided  in  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  have  watched  with  deep 
interest  and  approval  the  process  of  its  restoration  to  perfect  integrity,  and  rejoice  at  the  result. 

They  have  also  viewed  with  satisfaction  the  careful  regard  of  the  government  for  the 
national  credit  and  honor. 

Thetreatywitb  England  especially  calls  forth  their  hearty  commendation.  Withthemem- 
ories  of  slain  comrades  and  of  all  the  cruel  scenes  of  war  still  fresh  in  their  minds,  and  filling 
them  with  loathing  of  the  barbarity  of  the  resort  to  arms,  they  regard  with  earnest  thankful- 
ness the  patient  perseverance  by  which  the  Soldier-President  has  accomplished  the  peaceful 
and  honorable  settlement  of  a  question  that  was  dark  with  threatenings  of  war. 

They  feel  that  the  denial  by  his  opponents  of  credit  to  the  executive  head  of  the  Govern- 
ment, for  the  beneficent  measures  which  he  has  recommended  and  carried  into  effect,  is  as 
unjust  as  would  be  the  withholding  from  Grant  of  the  credit  for  the  victory  that  came  to  our 
arms  under  his  leadership. 

Truth,  honor,  consistency,  and  patriotism,  imperatively  call  upon  the  defenders  of  the 
Union  to  stand  by  their  colors  and  support  the  party  whose  record  is  one  of  the  benefits  to 
the  country. 

Fraternally  yours, 

SELDEN  CONNOR. 

FROM  GENERAL  J.  B.  KIDDOO. 

PARIS,  FRANCE,  September  2,  1872. 
L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary,  etc.  :  , 

My  Dear  Sir — Your  kind  letter  of  July  16,  inviting  me  to  be  present  and  address  the 
Convention  of  Veterans  to  be  held  at  Pittsburg  on  the  17th  inst.,  has  just  been  received.  I 
regret  to  state  that  my  present  plans  will  not  permit  me  to  return  to  the  United  States  in  time 
to  participate  in  your  deliberations. 


10 

Though  it  is  not  customary  for  officers  of  the  army  to  take  an  active  part  in  politics,  I 
do  not  hesitate,  in  consideration  of  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  present  campaign  and  its  rela- 
tion to  our  late  war.  to  express  my  earnest  preference  for  the  re-election  of  Gen.  Grant,  and 
am  at  a  loss  to  know  how  any  soldier  who  took  an  honorable  part  in  the  struggle  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  Government  can  possibly  take  any  other  view  of  existing  atl'airs.  It 
would  be  a  sad  comment  on  the  achievements  of  our  arms,  and  a  virtual  loss  of  the  moral  of 
our  victories,  if,  in  less  than  eight  years  after  the  close  of  the  war,  the  leaders  in  the  Southern 
rebellion  and  their  Northern  allies  should  be  restored  to  the  control  of  the  affairs  of  the  nation. 

The  soldiers  and  sailors  who  fought  for  the  life  of  the  nation  should  not  forget  that  the 
party  which  now  opposes  the  re-election  of  Gen.  Grant  includes  within  its  ranks  all  who 
during  the  war  thought  we  were  the  aggressors  on  civil  liberty  and  the  violators  of  the  Con- 
stitution, in  our  efforts  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Union  by  force  of  arms. 

The  country  owes  General  Grant  a  second  term,  not  more  for  his  great  achievements 
during  the  war  than  for  the  success  of  his  administration,  which,  though  it  may  be  excep- 
tionable in  some  respects,  is  as  free  from  serious  mistakes  as  any  administration  since  that 
«>f  Washington. 

With  the  assurance  that  you  will  have  a  reception  due  heroes  in  the  loyal  city  of  Pitts- 
burg,  in  which  I  lived  most  of  my  life,  and  from  which  I  entered  the  army  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  and  with  many  regrets  that  I  cannot  be  present, 

I  remain  your  obedient  servant. 

J.  B.  KIDDOO, 
Brigadier- General  U.  ti.  A.  (retired  list.) 

FROM  GENERAL  JOHN'  M.   THAYER. 

LINCOLN,  NEB.,  September  12,  1872. 
COL.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  Veterans'  National  Committee  : 

I  had  fully  intended  to  meet  with  the  veterans  at  Pittsburg,  on  the  17th  and  18th  insts., 
but  my  engagements  for  speaking  in  this  State  prevent.  I  am,  therefore,  most  reluctantly 
compelled  to  forego  the  pleasure  of  being  present. 

But  it  is  a  satisfaction  to  believe  that  the  same  high  sense  of  patriotic  duty,  which  moved 
the  hearts  of  the  true  soldiers  in  the  late  war,  will  govern  those  who  meet  with  you  now. 
We  followed  our  great  leader,  Grant,  then;  BO  let  us  march  under  his  banner  now. 

Very  truly  yours, 

JOHN  M.  THAYER. 

FROM  PRIVATE  TANNER,   WHO  LOST  BOTH  LEGS  IN  BATTLE. 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y.,  August  12,  1872. 
COL.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  Veterans'  National  Committee  : 

Dear  Sir— Yours  of  recent  date,  inclosing  call  for  Convention  at  Pittsburg,  and  in- 
viting myself  to  attend,  is  at  hand. 

In  response.  1  beg  leave  to  say  that  every  pulsation  of  my  heart  beats  in  unison  with 
tin-  proposed  objects  of  said  convention,  and  1  shall  consider  it  a  high  honor  to  attend,  and 
by  voice  and  vote  to  participate  in  its  action. 

Judging  the  feelings  of  other  veterans  by  my  own,  I  presume  no  class  of  our  citizens 
are  really  more  in  favor  of  truly  and  speedily  healing  over  "  the  bloody  chasm  "  which  now 
separate*  the  two  great  sections  of  our  country;  but  we  have  learned  too  thoroughly  what 
That  chasm  involves  to  indulge  in  any  glittering  generalities  concerning  it,  and  earnestly  de- 
sire to  rebuild  upon  a  sound  basis. 

If  we  ovince  a  disposition  to  reject  in  the  structure  any  of  the  Democratic  Ku-Klux 
bricks,  it  is  because  we  so  fully  realize  that  they  are  not  of  standard  durability. 

Because  I  distrust  the  sincerity  of  Mr.  Greeley's  sudden  abrogation  of  all  party  obliga- 
-trust  the  sincerity  of  his  present  supporters,  most  of  whom  have  been  his 
life-long  opponents  ;  but,  mostly  because  of  my  unlimited  faith  in  the  patriotic  unselfishness, 
unlimited  devotion  to  duty,  principle,  and  the  best  interests  of  the  country,  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant 
and  Henry  Wilson,  am  I  determined  to  stand  unwavering  and  zealously  for  the  nominees  of 
the  Philadelphia  Convention,  the  truest  exponents  of  American  nationality  and  of  the  party 
of  Liberty,  Progress,  and  Reform. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

JAMES  TANNER, 
Late  Private  87<A  N.  T.  Vols. 


11. 

FROM   GEN.   BEX.   8POONER. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  August  8,  1872. 
L.  E.  DUDLEY,  ESQ.,  Secretary  Veterans'  National  Committee,  New  York  City: 

Dear  Sir — I  am  in  receipt  of  your  favor  of  the  1st  inst.,  inviting  me  to  be  present  and 
address  the  Convention  of  Veterans  to  be  held  at  Pittsburg  on  the  17th  Sept.  I  have  read 
the  call,  and  most  heartily  concur  in  the  purposes  for  which  the  convention  is  to  be  convened. 
The  political  canvass  now  pending  before  the  people  of  this  country  devolves,  in  my  judg- 
ment, a  duty  upon  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  late  Union  army,  equal  in  importance  to  the 
safety  of  the  Union  and  the  preservation  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  to  the  great  duty  so  gal- 
lantly discharged  by  them  in  defending  the  nation  against  the  greatest  rebellion  known  in 
the  world's  history.  Secession  and  rebellion  were  inaugurated  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Democratic  party;  and  for  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives  sacrificed  in  defense  ot  the  flag 
— for  the  untold  and  immeaswable  suffering  entailed  upon  the  people — for  the  widows'  tears 
and  the  orphans'  cries,  and  for  the  mountain  of  debt  which  rested  so  heavily  upon  the  country 
at  the  close  of  the  war,  the  leaders  of  this  party  should  be  held  responsible.  The  election  of 
Mr.  Greeley  means  the  elevation  of  the  Democratic  party  to  power,  and  the  elevation  of  that 
party  to  power  means  the  payment  of  pensions  to  rebel  soldiers  as  pensions  are  paid  to  Union 
soldiers — means  payment  for  the  emancipated  slaves  at  an  estimated  value  of  two  thousand 
million  dollars — means  a  recognition  of  the  doctrine  that  a  State  has  a  right  to  secede  from 
the  Union  at  her  pleasure,  and  means  the  restoration  of  the  lost  cause. 

When  the  poodle-dog  succeeds  in  swallowing  and  merging  into  himself  the  elephant,  it 
will  be  time  enough  to  consider  the  silly  propositions  that  a  few  thousand  Liberal  Republi- 
cans can  swallow  up  and  merge  into  themselves  a  great  party  of  three  millions  of  voters.  It 
is  simply  a  trick  to  put  the  Democratic  party  into  power,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  every  Union 
soldier  and  sailor  should  use  his  best  efforts  to  defeat  the  monstrous  conspiracy.  I  gave  an 
entire  arm  in  battling  against  Mr.  Greeley's  heresy  of  secession,  as  advocated  so  earnestly  by 
him  in  the  latter  part  of  1860  and  the  early  part  of  1861,  and  I  am  not  willing  now  to  aid  in 
his  elevation  to  the  Presidency,  where  he  can  have  an  opportunity  to  press  his  secession 
views  into  practical  operations.  If  the  people  want  peace,  want  quiet  and  rest — if  they  want 
stability  and  prosperity  in  the  business  and  financial  concerns  of  the  country — if  they  want 
economy  in  the  management  of  public  affairs — if  they  want  to  transmit  to  the  keeping  of 
their  children  the  best  and  strongest  government  on  earth,  they  should  stand  by  the  Repub- 
lican partyfand  earnestly  support  Grant  and  Wilson  for  President  and  Vice-President.  I 
hope  to  attend  the  convention,  but  cannot  promise  to  make  a  speech.  May  this  meeting  of 
my  comrades  be,  in  every  regard,  a  great  success.  Remember  me  kindly  to  Gen.  Burnside. 

Very  truly, 

BEN.  SPOONER. 

FROM   GENERAL  THOMAS  C.   FLETCHER. 

ST.  Louis,  August  5,  1872. 


L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  Veterans'  National  Committee : 


Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  on  the  17th  proximo. 

In  the  earnest  hope  and  candid  expectation  of  the  election  of  Grant  and  Wilson, 

I  am,  truly  yours, 

THOS.  C.  FLETCHER. 

FROM  GENERAL  A.  HICKENLOOPER. 

CINCINNATI,  August  6,  1872. 
L.  E.  DUDLEY,  ESQ.,'  Secretary,  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  New  York  : 

Sir — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  kind  invitation  to  he  present 
at,  and  address  the  meeting  of  veterans  of  late  war,  to  be  held  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  Sept.  17th. 
While  I  fully  sympathize  with  the  objects  of  the  meeting,  my  business  engagements  are  such 
taut  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  attend. 

Respectfully, 

A.  HICKENLOOPER. 


•12 

FROM   GENERAL  WALTKR  ITAIMMMAN. 

CONCORD,  N.  H.,  September  15,  1872. 

Dear  General — It  is  a  source  of  painful  regret  that  I  am  compelled  to  forego  the  plea- 
sure of  attending  the  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Convention  on  the  17th  instant. 

I  delivered  an  address  in  Canterbury  yesterday — Saturday — and  in  coming  home  by  car- 
riage after  meeting  took  a  severe  cold,  so  that  to-day  I  am  unable  to  leave  mv  room.  I  in- 
tended to  start  to-morrow  morning — had  made  all  my  arrangements  to  do  so — was  animated 
with  the  expectation  of  serving  in  this  Pittsburgh  campaign  under  rnv  old  and  honored  com- 
mander, and  I  know  not  how  to  reconcile  myself  to  this  defeat  of  my  long-contemplated 
plans. 

If  possible,  without  risk  to  my  life,  I  shall  start  to-morrow  morning,  and  so  reach  Pitts- 
burg  Tuesday  afternoon,  but  at  this  moment  the  prospect  is  almost  hopeless. 

Hoping  you  will  have  a  most  successful  convention,  I  subscribe  myself, 

Yours,  with  great  regard, 

WALTER  HARRIMAN. 

Major-General  A.  E.  BURNSIDE. 

FROM  GENERAL  MICHAEL  KERWIN. 

NEW  YORK,  August  3,  1872. 
COL.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  Veterans'  National  Committee : 

Dear  Sir — Your  favor  of  the  1st  instant,  inviting  me  to  be  present  and  address  the  Vet- 
erans' Convention  to  be  held  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  September  17th,  is  at  hand. 

Permit  me,  in  reply,  to  thank  you  for  the  invitation,  and  to  assure  you  of  my  hearty  and 
earnest  support.  I  would  at  any  time  deem  it  a  high  honor,  as  well  as  a  pleasura,  to  meet  in 
convention  so  many  of  my  old  comrades  in  arms;  but  to  be  present  on  the  coming  occasion  I 
regard  as  a  duty — an  imperative  duty,  that  every  loyal  Union  soldier  owes  to  the  country,  for 
the  preservation  of  which  he  .fought  and  suffered  so  many  privations. 

-  high  time  that  loyal  men  should  awake  to  the  new  dangers  that  threaten  the  nation. 
The  friends  of  secession  are  again  mustering  their  forces,  and  we  should  show  by  our  action 
at  1'ittshurg  that  we  are  unwilling  to  permit  the  institutions,  preserved  at  BO  fearful  a  cost,  to 
fall  into  the  hands  of  those  who  sought  to  destroy  them.  It  is  no  longer  a  question  of  Re- 
publicanism and  Democracy,  two  great  parties  struggling  for  power,  both  aiming  4<>  promote1 
the  interests  of  the  Union.  All  the  old  landmarks  of  the  Democratic  party  are  completely 
obliterated,  and  its  broken  fragments  are  now  marshaling  under  the  leadership  of  the  great 
champion  of  the  doctrine  of  secession,  who,  during  the  dark  days  of  rebellion  and  treason,  tried 
to  embarrass  the  Government  and  discourage  the  friends  of  the  Union  by  his  clamoring  for 
peaceful  dissolution.  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  assure  you,  from  my  numerous  acquaintance 
among  the  <>ld  veterans  of  the  war,  that,  regardless  of  all  past  political  connection,  the  deter- 
mination is  to  unite  once  more  under  the  glorious  old  flag,  ana  march  to  the  front  in  defense 
of  the  Union  and  equal  rights  to  all  men. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  trulv, 

M.  KERWIN, 
Late  Col.  \Wt,  Penna.  Cavalry  and  Brev.  Brig. -Gen  1.  Vol&. 

FROM  GENERAL  WILLIAM  VANDEVER. 

DUBUQUE,  IOWA,  August  16,  1872. 
COL.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  Veterans'  National  Committee  : 

Dear  Sir— Your  favor  of  July  16th,  inviting  me  to  be  present  and  address  the  Convention 
of  Veterans  at  Pittaburg,  on  the  17th  of  September,  came  during  my  absence  from  home. 
I  now  hasten  to  reply.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  determine  at  this  time  whether  I  can  be 
present  or  not ;  but,  whether  present  or  absent,  my  heart  is  in  sympathy  with  the  object  of 
this  meeting.  I  cannot,  for  the  life  of  me,  see  how  any  citizen  who  valuer  the  Union  and  de- 
sires its  preservation,  can  vote  to  elevate  to  the  presidency  of  the  States  the  man  who  has 
dAJiberoldy  avowed  that,  '•  whenever  assured  the  Southern  people  desire  separation,  he  will 
joyfully  co-operate  with  them  to  secure  the  end  they  seek."  The  election  of  such  a  man 
would  invik-  disunion.  The  heroic  achievements  of  the  Union  army  are  valueless,  if  such  a 
hilosophy  is  now  to  prevail,  and  we  had  better  abandon  the  ceremony  of  decorating  with 
flowers  the  graves  of  our  dead  comrades,  as  an  idle  mockery,  if  the  chief  advocate  of  such 
a  sentiment  is  to  be  elected  President. 

The  firmness,  moderation,  and  wisdom  of  the  present  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Republic, 


13 

displayed  in  the  field  and  in  council,  entitle  him  to  the  continued  confidence  of  the  people,  and 
are  a  certain  guaranty  that  he  will  wisely  administer  the  government  another  four  years. 
With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

WILLIAM  VANDEVER. 

FROM  GENERAL   A.   T.   A.    TORBETT. 

MILFORD,  DELAWARE,  August  29, 1872. 
To  Col.  L.  EDWIN  DUDLEY,  Secretary  of  Veterans'  National  Committee  : 

Dear  Sir — It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  inform  you  that  it  is  my  desire  and  intention  to 
be  present  at  the  Soldiers'  Convention,  to  be  held  at  Pittsburg  on  the  17th  of  September  next, 
there  to  join  with  my  former  associates  in  any  measures  which  will  promote  the  success  of  the 
grand  National  Republican  party  in  tie  present  contest. 

Very  respectfully, 

A.  T.  A.  TORBETT. 

FROM  GENERAL  C.  E.   LIPPINCOTT. 

SPRINGFIELD,  ILLINOIS,  August  3, 1872. 
Gen.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  of  Veterans'  National  Committee  : 

Dear  Sir — It  is  the  result  of  accident  only  that  your  favor  of  July  16th  has  been  so  long 
unanswered.  I  will  now  say  that  I  was  greatly  pleased  at  this  movement,  and  will  do  all  in 
my  power  to  induce  others  to  attend.  I  shall  attend,  unless  something  now  unforeseen  shall 
prevent.  Do  not  count  on  me  for  a  speech. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

C.  E.  LIPPINCOTT. 

FROM   GENERAL  J.  A.   WILLIAMSON. 

DBS  MOINES,  IOWA,  July  31,  1872. 
L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  of  Veterans'  National  Committee,  New  York: 

Sir — Your  favor  of  the  2Gth  inst.,  inclosing  call  for  the  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Convention, 
is  at  hand. 

In  reply  to  the  invitation  of  the  committee  to  be  present  and  address  the  Convention  at 
Pittsburg,  on  the  17th  of  September,  I  have  to  say  that  I  shall  take  great  pleasure  in  doing  BO. 

I  am  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  A.  WILLIAMSON. 

FROM  GENERAL  GEORGE  H.  PATRICK. 

MONTGOMERY,  ALABAMA,  September  11,  1872. 

Col.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Sec'y  of  Veteran^  National  Committee,  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  New  York  City: 
Dear  Sir — Inclosed  find  duplicate  credentials  of  Alabama  delegation  to  National  Con- 
vention at  Pittsburg  on  17th  inst.,  the  original  being  sent  at  hands  of  Captain  R.  M.  Reynolds, 
State  Auditor,  with  our  greeting  that  the  soldiers  of  Alabama,  with  one  single  and  noticeable 
exception,  will  vote  solid  next  November  for  their  old  commander;  and  trusting  that  every 
State  will  do  as  well,  I  remain 

Yours,  truly, 

GEORGE  H.  PATRICK. 

FROM  GENERAL  E.  F.  WINSLOW. 

ST.  Louis,  Mo.,  August  6,  1872. 
Col.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Sec'y  of  Veterans'  National  Committee,  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  New  York : 

Dear  Sir — In  response  to  the  invitation  to  be  present  at  a  mass  convention  to  be  held  at 
Pittsburg,  September  17th  next,  I  take  great  pleasure  in  saying  it  will  afford  me  sincere 
gratification  to  meet  my  old  comrades  at  that  time  and  place,  and  that  we  can  cordially  unite 
in  the  support  of  our  great  coiflmander  during  the  present  campaign,  in  which  he  is  certain 
to  lead,  as  usual,  to  victory. 

I  cannot  conceive  a  good  reason  why  one  of  us  can  abandon  our  colors,  our  leader,  or 
our  principles  so  much  as  to  remain  passive  during  the  present  contest,  and  it  is  much  more 
difficult  to  believe  in  a  change  of  front  and  its  consequences  to  the  side  of  union  and  victory. 


14 

When  the  issues  are  more  clearly  defined  aud  the  consequences  contingent  upon  a  possible 
failure  more  fully  understood,  I  am  confident  the  men  who  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  so 
firmly  will  again  close  up  their  ranks  and  move  forward  as  a  part  of  the  great  civilizing  and 
progressive  republican  column,  to  a  success  as  great  as  that  of  the  last  presidential  campaign. 
This  civil  ana  political  fight  will  be  no  less  important  to  the  future  of  our  great,  united,  and 
now  pacified  and  prosperous  country,  than  was  that  last  named.  We  all  interpreted  our  sit- 
uation at  that  time  clearly  and  intelligently,  and  I  have  faith  to  believe  we  will  see,  as  dis- 
tinctly as  then,  our  whole  duty  at  this  critical  juncture.  Certainly  our  recently  enfranchised 
citizens  are  not  more  likely  than  we  to  learn  what  is  best  for  tfi'-ni,  and  as  they  have  already, 
in  one  great  canvas,  fixed  their  position,  we  would  be  less  entitled  to  our  claim  of  superiority 
if  we  failed  to  know  our  duty  or  to  do  it. 

Yours  fraternally, 

E.  F.  WiNSLOW. 

FROM  GENERAL  DENNIS  F.  BURKE. 

NEW  YORK,  August  1,  1872. 
Col.  L.  E.  DUDLEY",  Secretary  Veterans'  National  Committee  : 

Dear  Colonel — Your  letter  of  the  1st  inst.,  inviting  me  to  be  present  at  the  National 
Convention  of  Veterans,  to  be  held  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  September  17th,  is  at  hand. 

I  cordially  accept  your  invitation,  and  look  forward  to  the  time  with  pleasure,  and  have 
an  earnest  desire  to  meet  many  of  my  former  comrades  of  the  army.  The  old  Irish  Brigade 
followed  the  fortunes  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  from  the  beginning  of  the  war  to  the  end. 
The  bones  of  four-fifths  of  its  members,  who  fell  in  the  struggle  to  preserve  a  united  country, 
lie  mingled  with  the  soil  of  Virginia  and  Maryland.  Many  ot  its  members  still  survive  to 
relate  their  victories  and  the  hardships  they  endured.  They  have  returned  to  their  homes, 
and  take  a  deep  interest  in  the  prosperity  and  welfare  of  their  adopted  country.  As  they 
stood  beneath  the  folds  of  our  glorious  national  flag  in  time  of  war,  battling  for  freedom  to 
all  men,  so  do  they  now  desire  to  stand  ready  to  maintain  in  peace  what  they  sacrificed  so 
much  for  in  time  of  war. 

Confident  that  we  have  truth  and  justice  on  our  side,  and  that  it  will  prevail,  and  feel- 
ing proud  of  having  served  under  General  Grant,  and  proud  to  have  the  privilege  of  voting 
for  him,  I  am,  with  much  respect  aud  high  regards, 

Yours,  D.  P.  BURKE, 

Brevet  Brigadier-General  U.  S.  A.  (late  Irish  Jiriyade). 

FROM  GENERAL  WILLIAM  8.   UILLYER. 

Ni-:w  YORK,  August  29,  1872. 

My  Dear  Colonel — Your  kind  invitation,  made  on  behalf  of  the  Veterans'  National  Com- 
mittee, to  be  present  and  address  the  Mass  Convention  of  Soldiers  and  Sailors  of  the  late  war, 
at  1'ittsbnrg  on  the  17th  of  September  next,  was  received  at  my  office  during  my  temporary 
absence  from  the  city. 

I  take  the  earliest  opportunity  to  accept  the  invitation  and  express  to  you  my  cordial 
sympathy  aud  co-operation  in  the  movement.  I  will  meet  you  at  Pittsburg  and  do  what- 
ever I  can  to  aid  in  the  indorsement  of  the  man  who  was  first  in  war,  and  is  now  first  in 
peace  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 

Very  respectfully  yours,  etc., 

WILLIAM  S.  HILLYEB. 
Col.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary,  etc. 

FBOM  CAPTAIN  JAMES  H.  WITHINGTON. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.,  August  31,  1872. 
Col.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  Veterans'  National  Executive  Committee  : 

Dear  Sir — As  I  am  chairman  of  the  Veterans' Executive  Committee  of  this  State,  I 
take  the  libeity  of  addressing  you  upon  the  political  outlook  in  this  section. 

The  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  la'e  war  are  organizing  throughout  the  State,  and  it  is 

their  intention  to  take  a  prominent  part  in  the  coming  campaign.     Our  organization  here  is 

•lian  four  years  ago,  and,  I  am  proud  to  say,  has  the  7-ispect  and  confidence  of  this 

community.     It  is  our  intention  to  so  amend  our  constitution  as  to  admit  to  membership  tho 

veterans  of  the  Mexican  war,  there  being  quite  a  number  of  this  gallant  baud  in  our  midst. 


Also  those  Confederate  soldiers  who  have  more  confidence  in  Grant,  the  general  who  made 
peace,  than  Greeley,  the  editor  who  wrote  up  the  war. 

There  are  a  large  number  of  the  above-mentioned  soldiers  awaiting  an  opportunity  to 
join  us.  There  are  about  as  many  old  Confederate  soldiers  here  as  there  are  Union  soldiers. 

We  are  peculiarly  situated  in  this  respect.  We  propose  "  to  bridge  the  bloody  chasm  " 
by  inviting  them  to  a  portion  of  the  fatted  calf.  We  intend  of  course  to  carve,  and  anticipate 
quite  an  accession  to  our  ranks  from  this  source,  as  quite  a  number  here  expressed  them- 
selves desirous  of  counseling  with  us  for  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  our  now  common 
country.  We  think  the  effect  will  be  good,  for  it  will  show  that  we  who  fought  for  our 
country  are  as  ready  to  forgive  as  they  are  to  be  forgiven. 

Our  convention,  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  sending  delegates  to  Pittsburg,  was  large 
and  enthusiastic,  being  the  largest  gathering  of  soldiers  ever  held  here.  We  send  fourteen 
delegates,  all  of  them  representative  men.  We  shall  instruct  them  to  urge  upon  the  Pitts- 
burg  Convention  the  propriety  of  holding  Grant  ratification  meetings  throughout  the  country 
upon  some  one  day  to  be  selected  by  the  Convention.  We  think  the  effect  would  be  grand, 
and  will  guarantee  that  the  demonstration  under  our  auspices  will  be  the  largest  ever  held  011 
this  coast. 

I  had  the  honor  of  being  a  delegate  to  the  National  Convention  from  this  city,  and  it  was 
my  intention  to  have  been  present  at  the  meeting  of  veterans  called  together  at  the  Conti- 
nental Hotel.  As  I  was  on  this  account  unable  to  be  present,  Col.  Coey's  appointment  was  a 
good  one.  He  is  a  gallant  little  fellow,  and  is  well  liked  here.  The  Pacific  coast  will  give 
her  electoral  votes  to  General  Grant,  California  by  5,000  majority,  Oregon  '2,000,  and  Nevada 
1,000  majority.  These  figures  are  reliable.  Some  of  my  Democratic  friends  admit  them  con- 
fidentially. We  should  be  happy  to  hear  from  you,  and  to  receive  such  information  and 
advice  as  you  may,  from  time  to  time,  desire  to  give. 

Respectfully  yours, 
CAPTAIN  JAMES  H.  WITHINGTON, 

Chairman  Veterans'  Executive  Committee. 

FROM  REV.  J.   G.  BUTLER,  D.  D. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  September  22,  1872. 
Col.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary,  etc. 

Sir — In  reply  to  yours,  just  handed  me  by  my  esteemed  friend  General  James  A.  Ekin, 
U.  S.  A.,  so  courteously  communicating  the  request  of  the  National  Committee  that  I  be 
present  and  act  as  chaplain  of  the  National  Mass  Convention  of  Veterans,  to  be  held  at  Pitts- 
burg  on  the  17th  iust.,  I  regret  that  pending  family  bereavement  necessarily  detains  me  at 
home. 

I  appreciate  the  honor  conferred  by  the  committee,  and,  did  the  providence  of  God  per- 
mit, I  could  not  deny  myself  the  privilege  of  meeting  the  veterans  -  representing  the  noble- 
men who,  under  God,  brought  freedom  and  peace  to  the  land — many  of  whom  I  have  met 
in  days  darker  and  less  hopeful  than  these.  Our  country  is  still  safe  in  the  keeping  of  the 
self-sacrificing  men  and  women  who  saved  it.  Our  honored  chief  has  won  no  less  the  honor 
and  confidence  of  the  nation  as  our  Executive  than  as  the  gallant  and  generous  defender  of 
our  flag  in  the  field.  We  who  know  him  at  home  are  pierced  by  the  slanderous  attacks  upon 
his  personal  character.  Modest,  courteous,  kind,  patient  amid  abuse,  going  in  and  out 
among  us  as  a  man  among  men,  regularly  and  devoutly  hearing  the  Lord's  Word  on  the 
Lord's  Day,  we  honor  and  esteem  him. 

In  the  magnanimity  of  Christian  patriotism,  it  is  ours  to  heal  and  bind  that  which  was 
rent  by  fratenial  bondage  and  civil  strife. 

The  varied  nationalities  and  sectionalisms  of  this  great  people  are  yet  to  be  welded  by 
the  educational  and  religious  influences  of  our  common  Christianity.  The  school-book 
and  the  church  for  the  common  brotherhood,  education  for  all,  imbued  with  a  gospel 
broad  as  the  Word  of  God. 

With  an  abiding  faith  in  the  triumph  of  truth,  with  an  unfaltering  confidence  in  the 
veteran  survivors  of  many  battles,  and  with  an  unswerving  trust  in  the  Lord  Jehovah,  our 
fathers'  God,  I  pray  that  Heaven  may  guide  your  deliberations,  and,  in  the  future  as  in  the 
past,  give  victory  to  the  right. 

Again  thanking  you  for  the  kind  invitation,  and  regretting  my  inability  to  be  with  you, 
I  am,  for  God  and  our  country. 

Very  truly  yours, 

J.  GEO.  BUTLER. 


1G 

EXTRACTS  FROM  LETTERS  RECEIVED. 

The  following  are  extracts  from  a  few  of  the  thousands  of  letters  received  in 
response  to  the  call : — 

Horatio  Jenkins,  late  Colonel  of  the  Fourth  Massachusetts  Cavalry,  and 
Brevet  Brigadier-General,  writes : — 

"  As  one  of  those  who  served  under  the  banner  of  the  Republic  for  three  years  in  defense 
of  the  Union,  I  beg  to  assure  you  of  my  hearty  approval  of  the  call  for  a  general  convention 
of  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  late  war,  to  meet  at  Pittsburg,  Penn.,  on  the  17th  of  September 
next. 

"I  am  sure  the  proposed  convention  will  give  such  an  expression  of  faith  in  the  integrity 
of  Gen.Grant,  and  in  the  principles  of  government  it  cost  so  many  valuable  lives  to  establish 
and  to  preserve  during  the  late  rebellion,  as  shall  convince  Liberal  Republicans,  Democrats, 
and  Ku-Klux  that  the  lies  and  slanders  they  have  uttered  against  the  President  and  his  ad- 
ministration have  only  strengthened  the  enthusiasm  of  the  veterans  in  support  of  the  party 
that  crushed  the  rebellion,  and  in  support  of  the  well-tried  leader  who  has  borne  the 
standard  of  the  Republican  party  '  full  high  advanced/  with  no  less  courage,  firmness,  wis- 
dom, and  success  in  peace  than  in  war." 

Cornelius  G.  Attwood,  of  Boston,  writes,  under  date  of  July  25th : — 

"  We  organized  yesterday,  under  the  call  of  the  Veterans'  National  Committee,  for  a  con- 
vention at  Pittsburg,  Sept.  17th,  with  Gen.  Horace  Binney  Sargeant  in  the  chair.  A  committee 
of  twelve  prominent  soldiers  (with  power  to  increase  their  number  to  100)  were  elected  to 
have  entire  charge  of  the  '  On  to  Pittsburg'  movement.  The  ball  has  been  started,  and  will 
roll  until  we  send  off  a  very  large  delegation  in  September." 

William  Peterkin,  late  gunner  United  States  Navy,  writes : — 
"  Will  you  please  place  my  name  on  your  veteran  list  for  Pittsburg.  Let  us  again  staud 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  and  victory  will  be  ours  in  the  future  as  in  the  past." 

John  H.  Husted,  late  Company  H,  Ninety-fifth  Regiment  New  York  Volun- 
teers, says: — 

"  As  I  am  one  of  the  many  who  responded  to  the  call  of  duty  in  1861,  to  defend  our  Re- 
public and  establish  the  principle  that  all  should  enjoy  the  inalienable  right  to  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  so  I  may  be  found  now,  with  the  same  object  in  view,  heartily 
responding  to  the  call  of  your  committee  for  a  Veterans'  Convention,  to  assemble  in  Pitts- 
burg, Penn.,  on  the  17th  of  September  next." 

John  R.  King  writes  from  Baltimore  as  follows : — 

"  We  had  a  large  and  enthusiastic  meeting  of  soldiers  and  sailors  on  Tuesday  night.  Great 
interest  waa  manifested,  and  the  prospects  are  that  a  delegation  numbering  fully  250  men 
will  go  to  Pirtsburg.  Some  of  our  enthusiastic  friends  even  estimate  it  at  400.  I  will  send 
you  a  list  of  those  who  indorse  the  Pittsburg  call  next  week ;  in  the  meantime  send  me 
some  more  blanks,  so  that  I  can  send  them  through  the  State.  We  have  another  meeting 
next  Tuesday  evening,  and  propose  keeping  it  up  lively." 

Gen.  John  T.  Averill,  the  gallant  cavalry  commander,  writes : — 
"  I  have  your  favor  of  16th  inst.,  inviting  me  to  be  present  at  the  Grand  National  Mass 
Convention  of  Veterans,  to  be  held  at  Pittsburg,  Penn.,  on  the  17th  of  September  next.  In 
reply  I  have  to  say  that  I  know  of  nothing  now  to  preclude  my  attendance.  I  heartily 
rejoice  to  see  the  veteran  element  of  our  country  arou«ed  and  zealous  in  the  work.  The 
blessed  rights  and  privileges,  procured  at  the  cost  of  property  and  life,  can  only  be  main- 
tained by  keeping  from  power  the  hostile  hands  that  opposed  our  efforts  when  the  country 
was  in  peril." 

Brevet  Major-Gen.  E.  L.  Molineaux,  of  New  York,  says  :— 
"I  feel  fully  identified  in  any  movement  tending  to  the  re-election  of  Gen.  Grant,  and 
phall  heartily  support  in  every  way  in  my  power  the  Republican  nominations  headed  !>y 
Grant  and  Wilson." 

F.  C.  Mann,  formerly  member  of  the  Chicago  Mercantile  Battery,  writes: — 

"As  one  of  the  '  1><>\.-  in  blue'  who  participated  in  the  war,  and  at  the  great  demonstra- 
tion in  Pittsburg  in  1868.  1  heartily  give  my  support  to  the  proposed  reunion  in  September 
at  that  place.  To  my  mind  the  people,  and*  especially  the  veterans  of  the  old  army  who  car- 
ried the  Stare  and  Stripes  from  Minnesota  to  Texas,  should  unite  closer  than  ever  to  sup- 


17 

port  our  old  and  tried  leader,  U.  S.  Grant.  I  cannot  see  that  the.  old  issues  are  dead.  I  am 
not  willing  to  have  a  change  in  affairs ;  therefore,  gentlemen  of  the  committee,  I  shall  be 
pleased  to  meet  you  in  September,  and  hope  that  we  will  triumphantly  re-elect  our  old  loved 
chieftain." 

John  S.  Chandler,  Company  E,  Seventy-fourth  Illinois  Regiment,  writing 
from  Shelbina,  Mo.,  says  : — 

"  I  cannot  see  how  any  true  soldier  can  desire  to  see  the  rebel  Democracy  restored  to 
power,  and  this  is  exactly  what  the  election  of  Greeley  would  accomplish  ;  so  you  can  put 
me  down  for  one  vote  for  Grant  and  the  good  old  Republican  party." 

Col.  Wm.  Plielps,  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  says : — 

•'  We  have  the  same  foe  before  us  that  we  had  from  1861  to  1865,  whipped— but  unre- 
pentant rebels  and  copperheads,  to  whom  are  united  a  few  soreheads,  all  out  of  office,  seek- 
ing it  at  all  hazards  and  by  all  dishonorable  means.  Recent  conversations  and  intercourse 
with  late  rebels  from  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  other  Southern  States,  who  claim  to  accept 
the  situation  (only  because  they  cannot  help  it),  have  led  me  to  see  the  same  spirit  and 
desire  they  had  in  the  rebellion,  as  I  witnessed  it,  and  who  find  a  sympathy  and  fellow-feel- 
ing among  the  copperheads  in  our  State,  are  the  most  abusive  of  our  chief  magistrate,  and 
stoop  to  the  most  malignant  slander.  They  were  the  most  earnest  in  recommending  Greeley's 
nomination  and  indorsing  it.  While  the  call  of  Johnson,  Gordon,  and  other  rebel  generals, 
appear  at  the  Baltimore  Convention  for  the  Confederates,  North  and  South,  to  meet  to  consider 
the  '  lost  cause,'  and  how  through  Greeley  they  may  regain  it,  the  '  boys  in  blue,'  in 
Michigan,  will  fall  into  line  and  stand  by  Grant  as  he  stood  by  us  and  our  country." 

T.  J.  Downing,  says : — 

"  I  was  a  soldier  of  the  late  war ;  was  at  Antietam,  a  member  of  Company  B,  Sixtieth 
New  York  Regiment.  For  one  I  heartily  approve  of  the  call  for  a  Veterans'  Convention  at 
Pittsburg,  Sept.  17.  St.  Lawrence  County  furnished  many  soldiers,  and,  as  they  were  for  the 
Union  then,  so  they  are  now." 

Richard  S.  Tuthill,  late  Battery  H,  First  Michigan  Artillery,  (Logan's  old 
division),  writes  from  Nashville,  Tenn. : — 

"  There  is  no  enthusiasm  here  among  Democrats  over  the  Tammany  candidate,  and  all 
efforts  to  manufacture  it  have  proved  fruitless.  For  every  weak-kneed  Republican  who 
votes  for  the  Democrat — Greeley,  Grant  w^ll  gain  ten  votes  in  Tennessee  from  honest,  sensible 
Democrats.  I  am  satisfied  that  a  thorough  canvass  will  carry  our  State  for  Grant  and 
Wilson. 

Capt.  W.  M.  Taylor,  late  Tenth  United  States  Cavalry  writes  from  Ottawa, 

"  As  long  as  I  see  so  many  one-armed  and  one-legged  men  about  me,  as  long  as  so  many 
orphan  children  go  about  the  streets,  as  long  as  so  many  widows  mourn  the  loss  of  their 
husbands,  /  don't  propose  to  believe  the  issues  of  ten  years  ago  are  dead.  Neither  do  I  pro- 
pose to  go  for  Horace  Greeley,  the  man  who  is  willing  to  forget  every  good  he  has  done,  and 
nullify  his  past  record  for  the  nomination  of  a  mongrel  Democratic  '  loose '  Republican  sore- 
head Convention.  Book  me  for  Pittsburg,  Sept.  17th,  1872." 

A  private  letter  from  a  distinguished  ex-soldier  from  Fredericktown,  Mo., 

says : — 

"  I  hope  to  be  able  to  meet  those  of  our  comrades  who  will  be  present  at  our  National 
Convention  at  Pittsburg,  on  the  17th  of  September  next,  and  I  shall  endeavor  to  secure  the 
attendance  of  a  large  delegation  from  this  State." 

Capt.  Clifford  Coddington,  Fifty-first  New  York  Volunteers,  who  was  se- 
verely wounded  at  the  battle  of  Antietam,  writes  from  Kingston  : — 

"  It  will  afford  me  great  pleasure  to  attend  and  to  do  anything  in  my  power  to  advance 
the  success  of  the  proposed  reunion.  I  believe  with  Horace  Greeley,  before  he  became  a 
convert  to  Tammany,  that  '  Gen.  Grant  will  be  far  better  qualified  for  the  presidential  chair 
in  1872  than  he  was  in  1868.' " 

Gen.  John  L.  Beveridge  says : — 

"  I  have  received  the  kind  invitation  extended  by  the  committee,  through  you,  to  be  pres- 
ent and  address  the  Convention  of  Soldiers  and  Sailors  to  be  held  at  Pittsburg,  Penna.,  on 
the  17th  of  September  next,  and  thankfully  accept  the  same." 

2 


18 

Capt.  Richard  Carter,  of  Dodgeville,  Wis.,  says:—- 

"  1  know  of  no  soldier  who  has  professed  Republican  principles  who  falters  now." 

A  joint  letter  from  Major  Basbyschell,  of  the  Forty-eighth  Pennsylvania 
\  ohmteen,  \Vm.  M.  llnnkle,  of  the  Third  Pennsylvania  Artillery,  and  Charles 
Barlow,  -of  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-first  Pennsylvania  Volunteers, 
says: — 

••  Heartily  approving  your  call,  dated  the  5th  inst.,  for  a  meeting  of  all  soldiers  and  sail- 
ors who  approve  the  nomination  of  Grant  and  Wilson,  we  respectfully  ask  Unit  our  names 
•  lied  as  in  every  way  indorsing  the  sentiments  set  forth  in  your  call,  pledging  what- 
ever iiiHuiMice  we  may  possess  in  furthering  the  great  cause  of  Republicanism  pure  and  una- 
dulterated." 

Col.  James  Luke  and  Major  James  B.  Homer  write  : — 

••  \Ve  strongly  favor  the  movement  culling  for  a  meeting  of '  soldiers  and  sailors  to  in- 
dorse the  renomination  of  Gen.  U.  S.  Grant.' " 

J.  H.  Stevenson,  late  private  One  Hundredth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers, 
says:— 

••  I'nder  Republican  frule  during  the  past  decade,  our  country  has  prospered  beyond  pre- 
cedent, and  if  we  have  performed  some  ot  our  duties  slowly,  it  inuM  bo.  remembered  we  had 
to  fight  every  inch  of  the  way;  our  progress  was  at  every  step  impcil.nl  by  tin-  bold,  defiant 
and  powerful  organization  known  as  the  Democratic  party  ;  and  although  they  have  '  caved 
hi '  on  almost  all  the  points  of  difference,  yet  they  have  not  '  come  in.'  " 

THE   DANGER  OF  A  DEMOCRATIC   VICTORY. 

Nr.w  HAVKX,  CONN.,  July  6,  1872. 
L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  Veteran^  National  Commit  t'-r  : 

Dear  Sir — The  address  of  your  committee  meets  my  conviction  of  the  duties  the  extra- 
ordinary crisis  of  the  country  devolves  on  the  loyal  men,  who  stood  by  the  old  flag  and  put 
down  the  rebellion. 

The  spectacle  of  a  "new  departure"  that  has  taken  such  shape  as  to  harmonize  the 
CopperheM  Democracy  of  the  North  and  the  rebel  Democracy  of  the  South  with  the  BO- 
I  ,il>eral  Republicans,  headed  by  Mr.  Greeley,  is  really  cause  of  alarm.  Should  this 
departure  succeed  ;n  the  purpose  of  its  leaders  and  break  up  the  Republican  party,  it  is  not 
impossible  that  our  children  would  be  tenting  on  our  old  camp-grounds  fighting  again  gigan- 
tic organized  rebellion. 

I  am  therefore  the  more  earnest  in  my  desire  to  see  a  full  and  fair  expression  of  the  sen- 
timents of  the  veterans  towards  the  present  Chief  Magistrate,  and  I  think  that  their  senti- 
ments will  have  potential  influence  with  the  honest  millions  of  loyal  people  who  have  not  yet 
forgotten  their  gratitude  to  that  army  and  its  illustrious  chief  who  saved  the  Federal  Union. 
In  my  judgment,  the  re-election  of  President  Grant  at  this  crisis  is  quite  as  important  to 
the  country  as  his  promotion  to  the  supreme  command  of  the  army  was  in  the  darkest  days 
of  the  rebellion.  He  conquered  the  rebellion  then,  he  will  preserve  the  costly  results  of  its 
sacrifices  now,  if  re  elected. 

I  am.  sir.  very  respectfully, 

B.  S.  ROBERTS, 
Brevet  Brigadier-General  United  States  Army. 

OREELEY  ON  EVERY  SIDE  OF  EVERY  QUESTION. 

DETROIT,  MICH.,  July  9,  1872. 

Mil  Dear  General — Noticing  in  the  press  dispatches  the  call  for  a  meeting  of  soldiers 
and  sailors  wlm  approve  the  action  of  the  Philadelphia  Convention,  to  be  held  at  Pittsburg 
on  the  17th  of  September,  I  take  occasion  to  say  that  this  movement  has  my  most  earnest 
sympathy. 

The  coming  campaign  will  be  one  of  great  importance ;  as  much  so,  perhaps,  as  any 
that  has  occurred  since  the  foundation  of  the  Government.  The  results  of  our  four  years  ot 
terrible  war  are  at  stake,  and  they  can  only  be  secured  by  the  election  of  our  old  chief,  U.  S. 
Grunt.  In  my  opinion,  he  has  shimn  himself  as  great  in  managing  civil  officers  as  in  lead- 
inir  armies  Our  country  was  nevermore  prosperous  and  happy  than  under  his  admin- 
istration. Our  public  obligations  have  been  met  even  before  they  were  due.  All  our  great 
financial  interests  feel  that  sense  of  security  and  peraianence  which  they  could  not  feel  under 


19 

a  government  presided  over  by  that  poor  old  vacillating  demagogue,  who  has  been  on  every 
side  of  every  pTiblie  question  for  the  last  thirty  years— Horace  Greeley. 

I  shall  endeavor  to  be  in  Pittsburg  at  the  meeting,  and  shall  be  pleased  to  renew  the 
associations  so  dear  to  me  formed  during  nearly  four  years  of  active  service  in  the  late  war. 
Wishing  the  movement  the  most  complete  success,  I  remain,  Yours  verv  truly, 

A.  M.  EDWARDS, 

Late  Colonel  Twenty-fourth  Michigan  Infantry. 
Gen.  A.  E.  BURNSIDE,  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  New  York. 

Gen.  JULIUS  WHITE,  of  Chicago,  says : — 

"  Please  enroll  my  name  as  one  of  those'  who  favor  such  an  assemblage  ;  and,  if  it  be  not 
out  of  place,  let  me  now  express  the  hope  that  the  men  who  defended  the  country  in  its  time 
of  peril,  will  not  deem  our  abandonment  of  the  party,  for  whose  principles  they  fought,  a  safe 
thing  to  do  at  present,  if  e\er." 

NOT  READY  FOR  A  REBEL  COPARTNERSHIP. 

WM.  A.  SCHMIDT,  late  Colonel  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Illinois  Volunteers, 
and  Brevet  Brigadier-General,  says: — 

"  I  hereby  inform  you  of  my  hearty  indorsement  and  approval  of  the  call  for  a  Conven- 
tion of  Soldiers  and  Sailors  on  the  17th  of  September  next,  at  Pittsburg,  to  ratify  the  nomina- 
tion of  our  glorious  leader,  U.  S.  Grant,  and  his  associate  on  the  ticket,  Henry  Wilson.  In 
the  same  month  (September)  six  years  ago,  a  similar  convention  met  in  the  same  place  to 
condemn  the  attempted  rule  and  prevent  the  transfer  of  the  control  of  government  from  the 
hands  of  the  grand  Republican  party  to  those  of  the  Rebel  Democracy.  I  had  the  honor 
and  pleasure  to  be  present  at  that  Convention,  as  a  delegate  from  the  great  State  of  Illinois.  A 
similar  attempt,  in  my  opinion,  is  being  made  at  this  time,  to  place  the  country  in  the  hands 
of  those  who  would,  if  they  could,  have  destroyed  it.  For  one,  I  am  not  ready  to  sell  out  to 
rebels,  or  to  even  form  a  copartnership  with  Democrats ;  therefore,  I  propose  to  adhere  to  the 
principles  for  which  I  fought,  and  stand  by  the  men  with  whom  and  under  whom  I  stood  in 
the  fore-front  of  battle.  Circumstances  permitting,  I  shall  be  in  Pittsburg." 

STEALING  UNION  UNIFORMS. 

E.  P.  HILL,  late  private  First  Marine  Heavy  Artillery,  says : — 
"I  hope  there  will  be  a  large  attendance  at  Pittsburg,  and  shall  be  there  if  possible. 
This  Greeley  movement  is  simply  the  old  rebel  trick  of  stealing  our  uniforms." 

WM.  M.  PERKINS  says : — 

"I  hereby  tender  you  the  heart  and  hand  of  a  'high  corporal,'  desiring  most  earnestly  to 
add  my  feeble  effort  for  the  furtherance  of  the  glorious  object  in  view,  viz.,  the  extirpation  of 
the  least  and  last  remains  of  the  rebellion  from  our  midst,  whether  it  comes  from  the  Southern 
fire-eater  or  the  Northern  renegade.  I  believe  that  such  results  can  only  be  achieved  by 
the  continuance  in  power  of  the  present  efficient  administration,  and  I  am  one  of  many  who 
hold  the  opinion  that  chaos  and  civil  turmoil  would  follow  the  election  of  such  a  vacillating 
office-seeker  as  Horace  Greeley  to  the  head  of  this  nation." 

A  VOICE   FROM  ANDERSONVILLE. 

A.  T.  Decker,  late  Corporal  Company  L,  Seventh  New  York  Heavy  Artil- 
lery, says : — 

"  In  the  campaign  of  1864  I  was  taken  prisoner  at  Cold  Harbor,  and  was  in  Anderson- 
ville  ten  months.  I  weighed  just  ninety-six  pounds  when  I  came  out  of  that  fearful  place, 
and  I  now  feel  no  inclination  to  join  hands  \\  ith  Horace  Greeley  and  the  rebels  and  copper- 
heads who  advocate  his  election.  Let  us  re-elect  Gen.  Grant,  and  give  Horace  an  opportunity 
to  tell  us  more  of  '  what  he  knows '  about  farming,  so  that  we  may  cultivate  our  160  acres 
intelligently." 

Joseph  L.  D.  Eiker,  late  private  Company  C,  Fourteenth  New  York  Volun- 
teers, says : — 

"  I  approve  most  heartily  this  call,  and  I  thank  you  and  those  associated  with  you  for 
your  zeal  in  so  good  a  cause.  God  bless  our  President." 

Capt.  John  McGeehan  says: — 

"  The  men  who  both  by  land  and  sea  followed  the  lead  of  such  captains  as  Grant,  Sher- 
man, Sheridan,  Farragut,  Porter,  Dupont,  and  others,  who  so  nobly  did  their  duty  in  their 
proper  spheres,  will  not  fail  to  do  their  whole  duty  by  the  country  i'u  its  present  crisis." 


20 

THE    UNHOLY    ALLIANCE. 

E.  L.  Campbell,  late  Colonel  Fourth  New  Jersey  Volunteers,  and  Brevet 
Brigadier-General,  says  : — 

"I  have  taken  no  active  part  in  politics  for  six  years  past ;  but  the  recent  unholy  alliance 
of  our  natural  enemy  with  those  who  should  be  ashamed  of  the  association  makes  me  feel 
much  like  rendering  such  service  as  I  may  be  able  to  do  toward  combating  and  defeating  it. 
•  pll  me  for  Pittsburg." 

Win.  Hemstreet,  formerly  Captain  Eighteenth  Missouri  Volunteers,  and 
Brevi-t  Lieutenant-Colonel,  says: — 

••  1  have  never  held  any  civil  office  nor  asked  for  any,  and  I  am  just  as  enthusiastically 
in  favor  of  Gen.  Grant's  re-election  as  I  was  for  his  first  election.  I  think  for  myself,  as  one 
•  •f  tin-  ]>eople,  and  from  the  time  I  first  met  Grant  on  the  mud-flats  at  Cairo,  in  18(51,  until 
now,  I  have  only  unqualified  admiration  of  him  as  a  product  of  Americanism.  I  intend 
!••  ti^'ht  his  defamers,  as  I  have  from  the  first  his  enemies  in  front  of  him." 

L.  M.  Tuxal,  late  private  One  Hundred  and  First  Pennsylvania  Volunteers, 
says  :— 

••  I  li.-^r  t<>  state  that,  having  been  a  soldier  in  the  late  war  for  four  years,  I  most  heartily 
approve  of  the  movement  and  indorse  the  object  thereof  to  the  fullest  extent." 

Thomas  Brown,  late  private  Company  D,  Eighty-eighth  New  York  Volun- 

,  says: — 

•  1 'lease  '  count  me  in'  in  any  undertaking  your  committee  may  think  proper  to  com- 
mence iu  order  to  support  Gen.  Grant  and  hia  administration." 

A   KEBEL   FLANK    MOVF.MKNT. 

Enos  G.  Burr,  late  private  Eighteenth  New  Jersey  Volunteers,  says : — 
••  The  nomination  of  Mr.  Greeley  by  a  few  so-called  '  Liberal  Republicans'  working  for 
and  in  the  interest  of  the  Democratic  party  in  its  new  departure,  will  avail  nothing  if  we 
and  onr  leaders  are  watchful  and  active;  and  if  he  is  elected  by  men  who  have  hated  and 
cursed  him  for  years,  but  who  have  now  overcome  and  bound  him  upon  the  funeral-pile  of 
political  death,  we  to  a  certain  degree  will  be  responsible  for  the  results.  But  it  seems  to  me 
that  the  loyal  men  of  the  country  cannot  allow  so  great  a  change  to  come  to  pass.  We  must 
remember  that  it  is  our  old  enemy  tryirg  to  flank  us — Jeff.  Davis  and  all  united  with  him  — 
to  destroy  our  republic. 

"  (' an  any  of  our  comrades  so  easily  forget  their  brothers  moldering  under  Southern 
Boil  from  starvation,  caused  by  unprincipled  foes,  and  can  they  forget  their  own  hardships  in 
the  work  ot  overcoming  that  foe?" 

J.  E.  Morrison,  late  private  Forty-sixth  Ohio  Volunteers,  says  : — 
'*  I  believe  every  soldier  and  sailor  in  Northwest  Ohio  will  heartily  indorse  this  cure. 

To  my  knowledge,  there  is  not  one  Republican  in  this  county  supporting  Greeley.     The 
rat*  are  sore  at  the  proposed  sale  to  l>e  made  at  Baltimore  on  the  9th  inst.     With 

<  itveley  nominated,  the  Democratic  party  will  be  divided,  and  Grant,  with  every  sail  filled  by 

:;  f.iVdrinir  hrce/e.  will  sail  over  the  course  triumphantly,  and  come  to  an  anchorage  in  the 

White  House  again  in  November." 

J  'i  ivate  C.  W.  Hazzard  says : — 

"  By  all  means  let  us  have  a  bumper  at  Pittsburg  !  Our  experience  of  a  former 
convention  at  the  same  place  will  warrant  the  going  ahead  with  this.  The  Pittsburg 
boys  will  come  right  up  with  the  work  of  getting  ready  and  being  ready,  I  am  sure." 

Jas.  E.  Montgomery,  late  Major  and  Assistant  Adjutant-General  United 
^  Volunteers,  says: — 

"  I  hope  to  be  able  to  be  present  at  the  meeting  of  soldiers  and  sailors  to  be  held  at  Pitts- 
burg  on  the  next  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Autietam,  and  shall  do  all  in  my  power  to  in- 
duce others  to  unite  in  the  movement '' 

STANDING  BY  THE  OLD   COMMANDER. 

I'livatc  William  McCarrick  says  : — 

I  heartily  approve  the  object  of  the  call  issued  by  your  committee  to  the  veterans  ot 
the  late  war,  and  I  assure  you  it  gives  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to  urge  on  nl!,  and  especially 
my  former  comrades,  the  n.-cessitv  ofstandingby  their  old  commander  in  this  trying  hour, 
••f  yielding  the  country  to  the  hands  of  still  uurepentaut  rebels." 


21 

Robert  M.  Davies,  late  Captain  Sixty-second  New  York  Volunteers,  says  :— 
"As  one  of  the  veterans  who  served  under  Gen.  Grant  during  the  war,  allow  me  to 
express  my  approval  of  the  objects  of  the  proposed  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Con  vontion.  I  am 
as  well  satisfied  with  Gen.  Grant's  management  of  civil  affairs  as  I  am  sure  I  was  myself  ami 
all  loyal  men  were,  with  the  brave  and  gallant  manner  in  which  he  gave  the  country  peace. 
I,  for  one,  shall  stand  under  his  banner  and  gladly  hail  him  as  my  next  President." 

H.  S.  Hendee,  late  Surgeon  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-third  New  York  Volun- 
teers, says : — 

"  In  common  with  those  who  served  their  country  against  treason  and  rebellion,  I  rejoice 
with  my  whole  heart  at  the  call  for  the  Veterans'  Convention  at  Pittsburg,  Sept.  17th.  It  will 
have  the  presence  of  many,  and  the  sympathy  of  all  loyal  men  in  the  nation.  The  soldiers 
and  sailors  have  no  sympathy  or  respect  for  the  vacillating  advocate  of  Spiritualism.  Four- 
ierism,  Brown-Bread'ism,  Jeff.-Davisism,  Tammany-Hallism,  and,  finally,  Whisky-Deracc- 
racyism  and  his  own  isms  besides ;  but  they  have  confidence,  sympathy,  respect,  and  love  for 
those  'who  never  faltered  in  our  country's  greatest  danger,'  and  will  heartily  support  the  hero 
of  a  hundred  battles  and  the  honored  and  favorite  son  of  the  Republic,  Gen.  U.  S.  Grant." 

Private  C.  "W.  Kilborn  says: — 

"  Such  an  expression  in  favor  of  Grant  'and  Wilson  as  will  be  given  by  the  proposed 
convention  must  have  its  weight  with  the  people,  who  still  regard  the  wishes  of  those 
who  for  their  sake  and  that  of  Republican  principles  placed  themselves  between  them  and 
all  harm.  The  country  trusted  the  army  and  navy  theu,  and  was  saved.  Has  its  faith  and 
confidence  in  them  ceased  now  ?  It  cannot  be." 

Col.  Gus.  G.  Frick,  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-ninth  Pennsylvania  Volun- 
teers, answers: — 

"Yes;  let  us  have  a  general  movement  of  the  boys  in  the  direction  of  Pittsburg.  We 
hear  in  the  distance  the  same  old  yell  so  many  of  us  heard  during  '  the  time  that  tried  men's 
souls'  on  the  other  side  of  the  Potomac  and  the  Ohio,  and  it  behooves  us  again  to  unfurl  our 
flags,  burnish  up  our  arms,  and  prepare  to  meet  the  old,  but  disguised  enemy.  Let  us  throw 
out  our  skirmishers  at  Pittsburg,  guard  well  against  a  'pressure'  from  the  rear,  and  then  put 
the  lines  in  motion,  and  keep  moving  until  he  is  completely  and  finally  vanquished.  This  is 
the  feeling  that  pervades  the  ranks  of  the  men  in  this  direction  who  wore  the  blue,  and  who 
are  now  putting  on  their  badges  and  mustering  for  the  fight.  An  easy  victory  awaits  us 
under  our  gallant  leader,  Gen.  Grant,  over  the  men  who  confronted  us  in  the  South,  and  those 
who  fought  for  their  country  and  flag  north  of  the  Susquehanna  and  Delaware,  500  miles 
away  from  danger." 

W.  W.  Brown,  late  private  First  Pennsylvania  Rifles,  says: — 

"The  boys  in  blue  never  came  together  in  any  other  than  a  gopd  cause.  They  never 
have  had,  and  I  doubt  if  they  ever  will  have,  a  relish  for  Tammany,  or  Tammany  candi 
dates.  They  have  a  vivid  recollection  of  1863,  when  the  army  had  to  be  divided  in  the  most 
perilous  hour  of  the  Republic,  in  order  to  put  down  treason  in  New  York.  It  is  no  satisfac- 
tion to  know  that  Mr.  Greeley  has  been  faithful  among  the  faithless ;  the  question  is,  how 
does  he  stand  now?  That  he  leans  upon  'Boss'  Tweed  for  support  is  as  plain  as  that  Iw 
relies  upon  Trumbull.  That  Jeff.  Davis  is  his  supporter  none  can  deny;  and  that  they 
should  go  into  the  same  political  grave  is  quite  appropriate;  and  that  the  soldiers  should 
assist  at  the  funeral  is  according  to  the  eternal  fitness  of  things." 

Col.  David  Bronson,  of  Missouri,  says : — 

"  I  attended  in  1866  a  similar  gathering  as  a  delegate  from  Missouri,  and  propose  to  be 
present  this  year." 

John  Beverly,  late  Lieutenant-Colonel  Thirty-fourth  New  York  Volunteers, 
sends  word : — 

"  I  cannot  see  how  any  old  veteran  can  adopt  the  rebel  battle-cry  of  '  Anything  to  beat 
Grant.'  This  cry  did  not  save  the  rebels,  and  it  cannot  save  Greeley.  I  know  of  no  old 
veteran  that  will  vote  for  Greeley  in  this  vicinity." 

Capt,  W.  D.  Phillips  says  :— 

"  I  heartily  approve  of  the  objects  of  the  call  for  a  great  national  meeting  of  soldiers 
and  sailors  who  served  the  Union  in  her  hours  of  trial." 

Lieut.  J.  M.  John,  of  Mount  Carniel,  Penna.,  says : — 

"  Our  county,  'Northumberland,'  will  gladly  respond,  and  send  her  delegates  to  confirm 
the  majority  that  will  be  cast  for  our  great  leader  in  November." 


22 
Private  Clifton  W.  Wiles,  Tenth  New  York  Cavalry,  replies  :— 

"I  cannot  persuade   myself  that  the  men  that   promoted  secession   by  their  acts  and 
ihoidd  ret  be  permitted  to  take  control  of  a  government  which  they  endeavored  to 
I  ;ui<i  tailed.     The  next  election  must  be  to  them  what  Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg  were 
t.p  the  Confederacy." 

Scrgt.  F.  J.  Edwards,  of  Dowagiac,  Mich.,  says  :  — 

"Our  picket-line  in  this  community  is  still  unbroken.  We  will  march  on  the  works  of 
that  man  Greclev  and  send  our  votes  with  doubled  interest  to  uphold  the  man  who  has  done 
so  well  for  our  nation.  We  love  him  and  we  will  support  him." 

Major  Henry  O'Connor,  late  Attorney-General  of  Iowa,  writes:  — 

"  The  call  made  by  the  committee  for  a  convention  of  soldiers  and  sailors,  to  be  held 

ut^'ittsburir  on  the  17th  September  next,  meets  with  the  wannest  response  from  every  soldier 

whom  I  have  heard  speak  on  the  subject,  and  all  desire  to  be  there.     I  believe  that  at  least 

liti.nuo  men  from  the  old  army  and  navy  will  be  at  Pittsburg  on  that  day,  all  animated  by  a 

common    purpose  to  manifest  their  love  for  the  old  flag,  and  to  do  honor  to   the  man  under 

ulniM-  lead  that  nag  never  was  lowered.     Gen.  Grant's  character  needs  no  defense,  either  as 

"i-  civilian,  general  or  magistrate;  but,  in  the  personal  and  coarse  abuse  which  has 

IIIM-II  recently  heaped  upon  him  by  rebels,  copperheads,  and  soreheads,  every  soldier  feels 

that  he  is  himself  insulted,  and  that,  too,  because  he  was  a  soldier." 

D.  Anderson,  late  Colonel  Nineteenth  Michigan,  says  :  — 

••  1  know  that  the  great  mass  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  that  saved  our  country  are  sound 

to-day,  and  cannot  be  humbugged  by  any  cry  of  corruption  or  retorm  coming  from  men  so 

lately  the  open  enemies  of  our  country  —  or  their  friends.     We  want  no  such  experiment. 

»w  that  under  the  present  administration  our  country  is  safe,  and  we  mean  to  keep 

PHILADELPHIA,  PENNA.,  July  15,  187iJ. 
L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  Veterans'  National  Committee  : 

Dear  Sir  —  Noticing  the  call  of  your  committee  for  a  mass  convention  of  the  veteran 

soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  late  war,  to  meet  in  Pittsburg,  on  the  17th  of  Sept  ember,  I  desire 

most  heartily  to  indorse  the  same  and  express  my  sympathy  with  its  objects,  and  I  trust 

that  the  assembly  call  will  bring  together  a  body  of  veterans  equal  in  numbers  and  enthusi- 

Yith  that  which  met  in  the  same  place  and  for  a  similar  'purpose  in  I860. 

With  respect,  very  truly  yours, 

JAS.  STEWART,  JR., 

Late  Colonel  Ninth  New  Jers  >y  Volunteers,  and  Brevet  Brigadier-General  Commanding  First 
Brigade,  Second  Division,  Eighteenth  Army  Corps. 

Col.  A.  P.  Ketcham  says  :  — 
•'  You  may  put  me  down  as  one  of  those  who  approve  the  objects  of  your  call  matt  em- 

'//>/." 

.1  <»1  m  H.  McMurdy,  of  Georgetown,  Col.,  says:  — 

"  As  one  of  tht!  soldiers  from  the  Territory  of  Colorado,  my  name  may  be  used  to  call 
the  National  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Convention,  and  I  am  much  mistaken  if  from  every 
hamlet  in  the  land  there  does  not  come  the  same  spontaneous  response." 

IT.  \\sYI.VANIA  8OLDIKUS   UNANIMOUS  FOR  GRANT. 

W.  C.  Gray,  of  Chester,  Penna.,  says  :  — 

"  \Vf.  the  soldiers  of  Delaware  County,  Penn.,  are  for  U.  S.  Grant  unanimously,  with- 
out regard  to  former  party  prejudices,  and  in  November  will  give  the  Grant  electoral  ticket 
the  largest  majority  ever  given  for  any  ticket  in  this  Republican  stronghold." 

William  A.  Short,  late  private  Company  E,  Seventieth  New  York  Volun- 
teers, was  secretary  of  the  committee  which  organized  the  Convention  of  Sol- 
diers and  Sailors  at  Pittsburg,  in  1866,  and  was  removed  from  his  place  in  the 
iiy  Department  by  Andrew  Johnson  for  his  labors  at  that  time.  The 
following  extract  from  his  letter  shows  that  he  still  keeps  up  with  the  front 
line  :  — 

"  I  send  herewith  a  list  of  names  of  veterans  who  indorse  the  call  for  a  soldiers'  and 


aaOcn1  convention,  to  be  held  in  I'ittsburg,  Sept.  17,  1872,  most  of  whom  express  their  inten- 
tion ot  attending  the  same.  Our  "boys  in  blue'1  in  this  section  have  not  forgotten  Greeley's 
"on  to  Richmond"  one  day,  and  "  peace  at  any  price  "  the  next;  nor  his  gratitude,  aftei- 


23 

ward  manifested  by  his  uncalled-for  opposition  to  the  bill  for  equalizing  the  bounties,  and  his 
mean  and  bitter  attacks  upon  those  of  the  rank  and  file  oi  the  army  who  drafted  the  bill  ami 
advocated  its  passage  as  a  matter  of  simple  justice  to  the  early  volunteers.  The  Democratic 
party,  both  during  and  since  the  war,  has  been  the  implacable  enemy  of  the  Union  soldier 
and  sailor,  and  to  support  Horace  Greeley  now,  the  representative  of  that  party,  would  be  a 
stultification  of  every  principle  for  which  we  contended  in  the  field." 

GRANT'S  "SMOKING  AND  SUMMERING"  IN  VIRGINIA  IN  '04  AND  'of. 

Robert  W.  C.  Mitchell,  private  Eighteenth  New  York  Cavalry,  says : — 
"  Having  taken  a  hand  in  the  war  for  the  Union,  I  can  hardly  see  how  I  cannot  heartily 
approve  of  the  objects  of  the  call  of  the  committee  of  which  you  are  chairman.  I  trust  the 
boys  will  awake  to  the  fact  that  the  enemy  is  up  again,  disguised,  and  now  joined  by  cow- 
ardly deserters.  Among  the  names  attached  to  the  call  I  noticed  the  names  of  men  that  I, 
with  others,  have  followed  in  the  figh1;  against  a  brave  Southern  rank  and  file,  and  I  am  sure 
we  cannot  but  join  in  the  thrasliing  about  to  be  given  the  valiant  (1)  home  guards  of  '61  and 
'65 — those  who  with  Horace  Greeley  cried  "  on  to  Richmond,"  four  hundred  miles  away, 
and  fought  and  won  the  great  battles  of  the  war — on  paper— while  Grant  was  smoking  and 
summering  it  down  in  Virginia,  around  such  watering-places  as  Petersburg.  Sound  the 
reveille !  Let's  hammer  hell  out  of  them  this  time." 

Brevet  Major  H.  A.  Norton,  of  Chicago,  says : — 

"  The  address  of  the  Veterans'  National  Committee  of  July  5  meets  with  my  hearty  ap- 
proval, and  I  firmly  believe  that  great  good  will  result  from  the  meeting  proposed.  If  pos- 
sible, I  shall  be  present  Sept.  l?th,  and  I  believe  that  the  old  rank  and  file  will  still  present 
an  unbroken  front  to  the  enemy." 

A.  T.  Johnson,  of  Kewanee,  HI.,  writes : — 

"  There  are  soldiers  and  sailors,  and  good  Republican  citizen  voters  enough,  and  a  large 
majority  over,  to  re-elect  Gen.  Grant,  and  we  are  going  to  do  it  this  fall." 

Private  T.  Jones,  late  Company  F,  Twelfth  Pennsylvania,  writes : — 
"  Agreeably  to  the  invitation  extended  through  the  papers  to  the  soldiers  and  and  sail- 
ors who  favor  the  re-election  of  Gen.  Grant  as  our  next  President,  to  meet  in  general  con- 
vention at  Pittsburg,  Sept.  17th,  I  hereby  notify  yourcommittee  that  I  will  be  at  the  place  ap- 
pointed, if  alive."  The  above  was  indorsed  as  follows  :  "  We  also  heartily  approve  of  this 
call,  and  signify  our  intention  of  being  present  at  the  Convention." 

HENRY  ABBOTT, 
H.  D.  BUNSING, 
SAM'L  SEBLERY, 
PETER  TIPPENS. 

FROM  GENERAL  W.  W.  BELKNAP,  SECRETARY  OF  WAR. 

WAR  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON  CITY,  September  10,  1872. 

Dear  Sir— I  have  delayed  answering  your  letter  of  invitation  to  the  Grand  National 
Convention  of  Soldiers  and  Sailors  at  Pittsburg,  in  the  hope  that  I  might  be  able  to  give 
you  the  assurance  that  I  would  be  present ;  and  it  is  with  much  regret  that  I  find  myself 
compelled,  by  the  pressure  of  official  duties  here,  to  decline  the  invitation. 

But,  though  not  permitted  to  be  present  with  you,  I  cannot  forego  the  opportunity  of 
expressing  to  you  my  gratification  at  the  spirit  which  has  prompted  the  call  for  this  Con- 
vention. At  a  time  when  party  strife  has  made  our  opponents  forget  the  eminent  services 
during  the  war  of  the  man  who  so  often  led  us  to  victory,  it  is  most  fitting  that  his  old 
comrades  in  arms,  associates  on  many  fields,  should  meet  together  in  enthusiastic  gatherings, 
to  remind  the  republic  that  his  achievements  are  not  forgotten  by  those  who,  under  hu 
leadership,  saved  it  from  destruction. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  recount  his  services.  They  are  recorded  in  our  hearts  and  in  the 
history  of  our  country.  Those  who  know  him  have  no  fear  that  the  Government  will  not 
be  well  conducted,  if  placed  in  his  hands  for  another  term.  His  administration  of  it  for  the 
past  four  years  has  been  marked  by  a  steady  decrease  of  the  public  debt,  by  increased  con- 
fidence in  public  credit,  and  by  just  and  upright  execution  of  the  laws.  A  wise  and  steady 
policy  in  the  same  direction  is  the  assurance  to  be  derived  from  the  experience  of  the  past. 

With  a  cordial  greeting  to  all,  and  with  my  best  wishes  for  a  most  pleasant  meeting, 

I  am,  very  truly  yours, 

WM.  W.  BELKNAP. 

L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Esq.,  Secretary,  etc.,  New  York. 


24 

FROM   GE.VERAL  H.   H.   WELLS,   EX-GOVERXOR   OF   VIKGIXIA. 

RICHMOND,  VA.,  September  4,  1872. 
Col.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary,  etc.  : 

>'<>  —  Your  letter,  asking  me  to  be  present  and  address  the  Mass  Convention  of  Soldiers 
ami  Sailors  at  Pittsburg  on  the  17th  of  this  month,  is  at  hand.  While  compelled  by  duties 
here  to  decline  your  invitation,  I  cannot  willingly  forego  the  opportunity  of  expressing  my 
earnest  approval  and  cordial  sympathy  with  the  great  enterprise  in  which  our  comrades 


Oil  the  day  that  General  Grant  joined  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  to  assume  for  the  first 
time  the  command  of  it,  I  went  with  him  to  General  Meade's  headquarters.  Ou  the  way 
between  Manassas  Junction  and  Brandy  Station,  the  General  said:  ''What  do  you  think 
would  l>e  the  consequence  of  electing  as  President,  at  this  time,  General  McClellan,  or  any 
other  Democrat?"  I  answered,  "That  it  would,  in  my  judgment,  inevitably  result  in  the 
early  recognition  of  the  independence  of  the  Confederate  States."  His  reply  was  :  "  It  could 
not  be  otherwise.  This  war  must  be  successfully  closed  up,  and  the  Republican  party  alone  can 
be  trusted  with  tlie  responsibility  of  settling  its  issues." 

What  our  great  captain  said  then  is  true  iiow.  And  I  believe  that  General  Grant's  re- 
election is  as  vital  to  the  great  interests  of  the  country  as  was  the  re-election  in  1804  of  our 
martyred  leader,  hero,  and  patriot  —  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Glorious  to  our  armies,  and  honorable  to  the  foes  that  opposed  its,  as  was  the  surrender 
at  Appomattox,  neither  General  Grant's  work,  nor  that  of  the  Union  soldiers,  was  there 
ended.  It  remained  for  him  to  protect  the  brave  men  who  had  already  surrendered,  and 
to  secure  for  them  the  peaceful  enjoyment  of  the  just  and  magnanimous  terms  he  had  prom- 
ised ;  but  it  remained  as  well  for  him  and  us  to  secure  for  the  common  benefit  of  the  whole 
country  —  the  South  as  well  as  the  North  —  the  precious  fruits  of  the  great  battle  that 
was  won. 

Good  government  is  not  yet  fully  established.  The  supremacy  of  the  law  is  not  every- 
where maintained,  nor  do  all  the  citizens  possess  the  same  full,  bounteous  measure  of  rights 
and  privileges  ;  the  same  just  equality,  nor  the  same  ample  protection  and  security  for  the 
safety  of  their  persons,  the  enjoyment  of  their  estates,  or  the  free  expression  of  their 
opinions  ;  and,  until  this  has  been  accomplished,  our  work  will  not  be  done. 

The  men  who  sought  to  defeat  Abraham  Lincoln  and  tire  Union  army  in  18(54,  seek  to 
defeat  General  Grant  and  the  Republican  party  in  1872.  The  weapons  are  not  the  same, 
but  the  consequences  involved  in  a  defeat  now  are  quite  as  disastrous  as  then  ;  and,  in  my 
judgment,  a  surrender  to  Mr.  Greeley  would  be  more  dishonorable  than  a  defeat  by  General 
Lee. 

The  Union  men  of  the  South  appreciate  the  feet  that  the  campaign  of  1872  means  fop 
them  a  fierce  and  unremitting  battle  for  existence  against  a  foe  that  is  unscrupulous, 
remorseless,  and  brutal. 

We  know  that  the  party  represented  by  Mr.  GreeTey  treats  all  men  in  the  South,  not 
acting  and  voting  with  it,  as  enemies  who  are  entitled  to  none  of  the  rights  secured  by  the 
rules  of  civilized  warfare,  but  to  be  7nercilessly  persecuted,  and  cruelly  punished  for  what  is 
no  crime  under  the  constitution  of  God  or  civil  society.  It  denounces  all  Republicans  as 
either  "niggers,"  "  carpet-bagger,"  or  "scalawags,"  and  everj  one  of  each  class  as  an 
outlaw  ana  a  scoundrel,  to  be  hunted  down  by  paid  spies,  tried  on  the  testimony  of 
suborned  witnesses,  and  condemned  by  packed  juries  and  partisan  judges. 

It  regards  the  negro  as  not  fit  for  the  rights,  nor  entitled  to  the  privileges  of  citizen- 
ship, Rtid,  therefore,  to  be  speedily  remitted  to  a  worse  condition  of  ignorance  and  degradation 
than  that  in  which  he  has  heretofore  been  kept,  which  can  best  be  done  by  abolishing  con- 
stiti:'.lt»nal  provisions  adopted  for  his  protection,  closing  the  public  schools,  excluding  him 
from  the  jury-box,  even  when  his  own  race  is  on  trial,  and  by  the  general  re-establishmeut 
and  frequent  use  of  the  whipping-post. 

It  regards  every  native  of  the  State,  no  matter  what  his  lineage,  virtue,  patriotism, 
standing.  <.r  rhai-acter.  if  he  is  a  Republican,  as  a  proper  subject  to  be  assailed,  abused. 
and  detained,  threatened,  intimidated,  and  persecuted  ;  banished  from  society,  cut  off 
tVi.m  his  former  friends,  and  degraded  in  the  public  estimation  to  the  last  degree  of 
human  endurance. 

The    same  infamous  party  creed    is    not  less  cruel    nor    remorseless    towards  the 

citizen  who  comes  here  from  another  State.     If  an   active  Republican,   no   matter  how 

long  he  has  been  here,  how  extensive  his  possessions,  how  unblemished  his  character,  how 

iiis  enterprises,  or  how  permanent  his  attachment  to  the  State,  he  is  to  be.  excluded 


25 

from  society,  denied  the  courtesies  of  civilized  life,  treated  as  an  intruder,  derided  as  an 
enemy,  harassed  with  vexations,  prosecutions,  and  accused  of  crimes  of  which  he  is  not 
guilty,  until  he  either  changes  his  politics,  leaves  the  State,  or  his  ostracism,  persecution,  and 
oppression  are  ended  in  a  prison,  or  possibly  in  a  dungeon,  with  a  halter  at  the  end  of  it. 

.  Governed  by  such  a  creed,  and  ruthlessly  executing  so  barbarous  a  policy,  there  is  no 
necessity  of  Ku-Klux,  or  any  other  secret  association  of  cut-throats  or  midnight  assassins  ; 
the  cost  of  their  paint,  disguises,  and  dark  lanterns,  is  au  unnecessary  expense  and  a 
useless  waste  of  money. 

There  are  in  the  South  a  multitude  of  men  and  women  born  here,  too  just,  too  patriotic 
and  humane  to  believe  in,  defend,  or  justify , the  monstrous  creed  to  which  I  have  referred; 
but,  with  Horace  Greeley  as  a  leader  of  his  present  following,  and  a  successful  presidential 
candidate,  such  good  men  and  women  become  utterly  powerless  to  stay  the  tide  of  disaster, 
oppression,  suffering,  and  sorrow,  which  even  now  threatens  us. 

I  had  occasion  to  express  these  same  sentiments  about-  a  year  since,  nor  has  the  year 
passed  in  any  degree  abated  the  confidence  then  entertained  in  the  truth  of  the  statements 
made,  nor  weakened  the  apprehensions  then  felt  of  the  great  and  impending  danger  that 
now  threatens  the  South. 

The  Republican  party  and  General  Grant,  and  not  Mr.  Greeley,  are  the  authors  of  every 
measure  of  justice  and  wise  liberality  which  has  been  extended  to  the  South  since  the  clcse 
of  the  war ;  amnesty,  peace,  and  fraternity  is  their  pledged  policy  for  the  future ;  and  not 
until  the  great  principles  of  justice  and  equality  are  put  into  active  operation,  will  the 
mission  of  the  Republican  party,  or  the  duty  of  the  Union  soldier  be  ended ;  the  defeat  of 
General  Grant  now  would  re-open  all  the  healed  wounds  and  inaugurate  an  administration 
disastrous  to  the  whole  country — unfortunate  for  the  North,  and  cruel  to  the  South.  The 
soldiers  who  have  lain  down  their  muskets  and  sabres,  must  now  take  up  their  ballots  and 
vote  as  they  fought,  until  all  men  are  indeed  equal,  and  so  secure  in  their  equalities,  that 
they  can  express  their  opinions  and  vote  for  the  candidates  of  their  choice  in  the  South  as 
freely  and  with  as  little  fear  of  ostracism,  threats,  or  intimidations,  as  they  can  in  the  North 
to-day. 

I  hope  and  believe  that  the  Convention  will  be  a  great  success,  that  General  Grant  will 
be  re-elected,  and  by  the  largest  majority  ever  given  to  a  presidential  candidate,  and  that, 
by  a  wise,  firm,  and  patriotic  administration  of  public  affairs,  the  whole  country  will 
indeed  be  blessed  ;  and  that  while  the  North  rejoices  in  rights  secured,  the  South  will  hail 
General  Grant  as  the  great  pacificator,  the  chieftain,  and  leader,  who  won  his  best  triumphs 
by  a  great  victory  over  their  worst  prejudices. 

I  remain/  my  dear  sir,  very  sincerely  yours, 

H.  H.  WELLS. 

RECEPTION  OF  THE  VETERANS  AT  PITTSBURG,  PA, 

Never  before,  in  the  history  of  this  country,  have  such  unusual  and  magnificent  prepa- 
rations been  made  for  the  reception  and  entertainment  of  any  assemblage,  as  was  made 
upon  this  occasion  by  the  people  of  Pittsburg.  Nearly  every  house  in  that  city  was  decorated 
with  flags,  banners,  and  mottoes.  At  the  crossings  of  all  the  principal  streets,  triumphal 
arches,  covered  with  evergreens  and  flowvrs,  were  erected.  At  nearly  every  private  house  in 
the  entire  city  the  doors  were  thrown  open  to  receive  the  many  thousand  guests  who  were 
unable  to  be  entertained  at  the  hotels.  At  the  City  Hall  tables  were  spread,  bounteously 
loaded  with  tempting  viands,  and  in  one  day  the  noble-hearted  women  of  Pittsburg  fed  at 
those  tables  over  fourteen  thousand  soldiers. 

During  the.  en  tire  session  of  the  Convention  every  prominent  street  in  the  city  was  so 
entirely  filled  with  people  as  to  be  almost  impassable.  They  came  in  a  manner  that  would 
have  delighted  the  great  heart  of  the  Martyr-President.  They  came  as  the  heroic  sons  of 
the  nation  did,  when  he  called  for  them  to  come  with  their  lives  in  their  hands  to  save  its  in. 
tegrity  and  insure  its  perpetuity.  They  came  from  the  humble  cottages  among  the  valleys 
of  the  Monongahela  and  Allegheny ;  from  the  workshops,  the  foundries,  and  the  mines. 
They  came  "as  the  winds  come  when  navies  are  stranded,"  in  the  grandeur  and  glory  of  theil 
might. 


26 

On  Tuesday  evening  speeches  were  delivered  to  immense  audiences  by  men  of  national 
reputation,  at  more  than  twenty  different  places  in  the  cities  of  Pittsburg  and  Allegheny. 
The  enthusiasm  was  unbounded;  cheers,  songs,  and  instrumental  music  filled  the  air  during 
the  entire  night,  and  it  seemed  as  if  all  had  abandoned  any  thoughts  of  sleep,  and  had  given 
themselves  up  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  occasion.  On  Wednesday  morning  the  grand 
daylight  procession  was  formed ;  this  was  composed  almost  entirely  of  the  Republicans  of 
Pittshurg  and  Western  Pennsylvania,  intended  for  the  purpose  of  welcoming  the  veterans  of 
the  nation  to  their  k>cality ;  words  fail  to  convey  any  adequate  idea  of  the  magnificence  of 
this  display.  The  procession  was  exactly  two  hours  and  a  half  in  passing  a  given  point, 
and  it  was  estimated  that  more  than  ten  thousand  men  were  in  the  line.  Persons  who  had 
the  opportunity  to  observe  this  grand  display,  expressed  the  opinion  that  it  was  the  finest 
demonstration  of  the  kind  ever  seen  in  the  country.  They  saw  only  immense  wagons  bear- 
ing emblems,  the  municipal  and  rural  industries  of  Allegheny,  some  fantastic  bodies  of  men, 
Mount*-*!  delegations,  and  an  infinite  variety  of  people  intending  to  participate,  first  moving 
in  confusion  through  the  streets,  and  a  little  while  later  evolving  out  of  this  chaos,  like  a  huge 
anaconda  of  infinite  proportions  unrolling  itself,  as  a  great  long  column  of  people  in  vehicles 
of  every  kind,  embowered  in  evergreens,  covered  with  flags,  amidst  the  most  grotesque,  sug- 
gestive, and  indescribable  associations — the  whole  pageant  passing,  in  well-ordered  but  viva- 
cious procession,  through  the  principal  streets  of  both  cities. 

The  procession  marched  over  the  prescribed  route,  amid  the  plaudits  of  one  hundred 
thousand  spectators,  to  Friendship  Grove,'  a  magnificent  cluster  of  forest  trees  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  city,  where  it  disbanded  for  the  purpose  of  listening  to  speeches  from  Gens.  B.  F. 
Butler,  E.  F.  Noyes,  and  many  others. 

Tlie  torchlight  procession  of  Wednesday  evening  was  the  most  brilliant  ever  witnessed 
in  that  city.  The  line  was  more  than  ten  miles  long,  and  was  over  three  hours  in  passing  a 
given  point.  An  eye-witness  has  described  it  as  follows ;  but,  to  be  appreciated,  it  should  have 
been  seen:— 

•'Rome  was  an  ocean  of  flame" — and  so  was  Pittsburg  last  evening.  The  appearance 
of  the  city  during  the  early  hours,  before  the  illumination  began,  was  most  inspiriting. 
Kvcry  street  was  jammed  with  people,  all  wending  their  way  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  the 
centre  of  attraction — Filth  avenue.  Almost  every  building  was  adorned  with  flags,  mottoes, 
mid  transparencies,  and  nearly  all  prepared  for  the  illumination  at  a  later  hour.  But  the 
climax  was  reached  about  seven  o'clock.  At  that  hour,  Fifth  avenue,  which  had  been  repos- 
ing in  the  glare  of  a  dozen  or  two  of  street-lamps,  seemed  as  though  Plantamour's  comet  had 
suddenly  swept  over  it,  leaving  its  lustre  behind;  thousands  of  flame-jets,  of  all  colors,  sud- 
denly flashed  upon  the  scene,  revealing  the  thoroughfare  in  all  its  wondrous  beauty,  and 
evoking  long-continued  plaudits  from  the  one  hundred  thousand  people  who  were  thronging 
tew  minutes  past  s«-ven  the  Ninth  Ward  and  Elizabethborough  clubs — avant-couriers 
of  the  grand  army  of  torch-bearers — essayed  the  passage  oi  the  avenue,  as  if  to  test  the  prac- 
tieahility  of  forcing  a  passage  through  the  dense  masses  of  people.  As  they  moved  slowly 
along,  holding  aloft  their  blazing  torches,  they  were  greeted  with  tumultuous  cheering,  while 
n-d.  white,  and  blue  flames,  rockets,  Roman  candles,  etc.,  cast  a  weird-like  effulgence  over 
the  avenue  and  adjacent  streets.  At  a  later  hour  the  grand  procession  began  to  move  over 
th"  prescribed  route,  when  the  same  scenes  were  repeated,  only,  if  possible,  they  were  inten- 
sified. 

It  was  a  grand  success.  There  was  no  blundering,  no  confusion.  Competent  men  had 
prepared  the  plan,  and  willing  hands  executed  it.  It  was  creditable  to  the  city.  The  fame 
<•»'  the  grand  display  will  be  heralded  all  over  the  nation,  and  people  will  learn  that  the  heart 
ot  the  "  Iron  City'  l»eats  responsive  to  every  sentiment  of  hospitality,  and  that  nowhere 
are  the  "soldiers  and  sailors  held  in  higher  esteem." 

Of  the  untii-ini;  efforts  and  lavish  expenditure  of  time  and  money  by  the  citizens  ot 
PitUbun  to  prepare  a  uloiious  welcome  for  their  veteran  visitors,  too  much  cannot  be  said. 
Every  soldier  and  sailor  who  was  present  has  engraved  upon  his  heart  the  kindest  rernem- 


"7        . 

brance  of  the  hospitality  of  the  city  whose  walls  and  clouds  are  ever  hlack,  but  the  hearts 
of  whose  people  are  ever* warm.  If  anything  can  repay  a  man  for  the  pain  of  wounds  and 
disease  endured  in  the  field,  far  away  from  the  loved  ones  at  home,  it  is  such  hearty  wel- 
comes as  were  accorded  them  by  the  noble,  kind-hearted  men  and  women  of  Allegheny 
County. 


THE     CONVENTION. 

TUESDAY,  SEPTEMBEB  17,  1872. 
THE  CONVENTION  CALLED  TO  ORDEK. 

After  the  singing  of  a  "  Song  of  Welcome  "  by  the  Welsh  Glee  Club  of  Pittsburg,  and 
the  "  Star  Spangled  Banner"  by  a  chorus  composed  of  about  one  hundred  singers  from  the 
Pittsburg  choirs,  under  the  leadership  of  Prof.  W.  J.  Polk,  Major  Samuel  Harper,  of  Pitts- 
burg,  at  11  o'clock,  A.  M.,  called  the  Convention  to  order,  and  said: — 

REMARKS   OF  MR.    HARPER. 

COMRADES — I  have  the  honor  to  introduce  to  you,  for  the  purpose  of  extending  to  you 
the  hospitality  of  Pittsburg,  our  fellow  comrade,  General  J.  B.  bwoitzer. 

ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME. 

General  Sweitzer  said : — 

COMRADES — In  the  name,  and  on  behalf  of  the  citizens  of  Pittsburg,  and  of  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania,  I  bid  you  welcome  among  us. 

I  greet  you  as  the  representatives  of  those  hosts  of  valiant  patriots,  who  at  the  call  of 
their  country  went  forth  to  battle  for  her  honor  and  her  flag. 

With  the  trials  of  war  now  over,  and  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  glorious  results — a 
nation  saved  and  reunited,  with  all  its  people  free — it  is  pleasant  to  come  together  again — 
to  keep  up  the  memory  of  past  events,  to  thank  the  Providence  that  has  carried  us,  com- 
paratively unharmed,  through  years  of  fiery  trial,  and  to  drop  a  tear  over  those  whom  the 
same  Providence  had  appointed  to  die,  in  order  that  a  great  nation  might  live.  What  rec- 
ollections throng  upon  us,  as  we  look  back  to  that  day — but  little  more  than  eleven  yeam 
since — when  the  blow  struck  at,  our  country's  flag  by  a  traitor's  hand  thrilled  like  an  earth- 
quake shock  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  land,  and  the  streets  of  our  cities  rocked 
under  the  tread  of  a  million  of  men  who  were  in  arms  to  avenge  it,  when  the  strife  was,  not 
who  should  be  excused,  but  only  who  should  find  a  place  in  the  ranks  of  its  deferiders. 

Among  the  earlier  of  the  more  important  engagements  of  the  war  was  the  battle  of 
Antietam,  on  the  anniversary  of  which  we  meet  to-day.  It  occurred  just  ten  years  j^nce, 
in  the  darkest  hour  of  the  Republic.  The  campaign  of  the  Peninsula  had  terminated  disas- 
trously, and  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  been  withdrawn.  The  Army  of  Virginia,  under 
Pope,  had  been  checked  and  driven  back  across  the  Kappahannock.  and  to  the  very  gates  of 
Washington,  and  the  1st  of  September,  1852,  saw  both  these  armies  shattered  and  disor- 
dered behind  the  fortifications  of  the  Capital.  Such  was  the  condition  of  the  Union  forces 
in  the  East  when  the  invasion  of  Maryland  was  resolved  upon,  and  commenced  by  Lee — 
and  in  the  prosecution  of  this  design  the  battles  of  South  Mountain  and  Antietam  were  fought. 

In  them  the  old  Army  of  the  Potomac  [applause]  won  some  of  its  brightest  laurels ;  and 
in  the  latter,  which  was  one  of  the  greatest  conflicts  of  the  war,  it  gained  its  first  victory  in 
a  general  engagement  over  the  adversary  against  which  it  had  so  long  contended. 

To  refer  to  its  incidents  in  detail— to  describe  the  fierce  struggles  on  the  right,  under 
Hooker  [cheers],  and  Meade  [cheers],  and  Mansfield,  and  Williams,  and  Sumner,  and 
Franklin — the  taking  and  retaking  of  the  corn-field  and  the  lands  beyond,  four  times  lost  and 
won,  the  storming  of  the  bridge  on  the  left  under  Burnside  [long-continued  cheers] — carried 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  in  a  charge  led  by  that  gallant  Pennsylvania!!,  General.  John  F. 
Hartranft  [loud  applause],  then  Colonel  of  the  5lst  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  and  the  despe- 
rate conflict  that  ensued  and  continued  until  nightfall — would  require  more  time  than  I  am 
allowed  on  this  occasion. 

It  can  only  be  referred  to,  as  a  whole,  as  one  of  the  most  momentous  battles  of  the  waj 


.        28 

— in  the  magnitude  of  the  armies  engaged,  and  in  the  valor  displayed  by  both  officers  and 
men — attested  as  it  is  by  the  fearful  loss  of  lite  and  the  casualties  on  either  side.  Near  two 
hundred  thousand  men  and  five  hundred  pieces  of  artillery  were  engaged  for  fourteen  hours 
— from  the  first  dawn  of  the  morning  till  darkness  enveloped  the  earth  and  ended  the  carnage, 
and  then  more  than  twenty-five  thousand  of  these  brave  men  lay  dead  and  wounded  on  that 
sanguinary  field.  The  Army  of  the  Potomac  held  the  ground  their  valor  had  wrested  from 
the  enemy,  and  was  thus  far  declared  the  victor. 

Andnere  ended  the  battle  of  Antietam.  It  \yas  not  renewed  on  the  morning  of  the  18th. 
The  troops  of  both  armies  spent  the  day  in  removing  the  wounded  and  burying  their  dead. 
The  morning  of  the  19th  was  anxiously  looked  forward  to  as  the  time  when  the  moody  strife 
would  again  begin  ;  but,  alas !  the  dawn  of  that  morning  revealed  the  fact  that  Lee,  with  his 
shattered  legions,  had  recrossed  the  Potomac*  under  cover  of  darkness,  and  was  again  on  the 
soil  of  liis  native  Virginia.  Thus  ingloriously  terminated  this  bold  and  desperate  attempt  of 
the  rebel  chieftain  to  get  to  the  rear  of  Washington,  to  sweep  victoriously  on  to  the  Susque- 
hanna,  and  then  return  and  besiege  Baltimore  and  the  National  Capital. 

Its  results  had  been  disastrous  to  him  in  the  extreme.  His  supplies  were  exhausted. 
.  His  army  was  dispirited,  shattered,  and  disorganized.  His  losses,  since  lie  entered  Maryland, 
»  fortnight  before,  were  nearly  thirty  thousand  men,  and  although  his  whole  ai  my  was  not 
raptured,  or  ruined,  as  subsequent  events  have  shown  it  might  possibly  have  been,  it  is 
nevertheless  certain  that  the  failure  of  this  campaign  was  the  severest  blow  the  rebel  cause 
had  yet  received.  A  word  as  to  the  character  of  the  contest  in  which  you  were  all  lately 
engaged. 

The  exciting  cause  had  long  existed.  Its  origin  dated  far  back  in  the  history  of  our 
country,  even  to  its  very  beginning  as  a  nation.  In  the  constitution  of  the  wisest  and  best 
;_ri  A  eminent  God  ever  gave  to  man,  our  fathers  made  but  one  mistake.  They  found  an  insti- 
tution here  at  war  with  the  great  rights  of  humanity,  and  with  the  very  first  utterances  of 
their  own  .sublime  and  immortal  declaration  ;  and  they  could  see  no  alternative  but. to  accr;it 
it  uniler  the  conviction,  no  doubt,  that  under  the  will  of  Providence  and  the  influence  of  fivo 
institutions  it  would  die;  at  all  events,  as  it  has  just  now  done.  They  did  not,  however, 
anticipate  that  it  was  to  go  out  in  a  convulsion  that  would  rend  the  nation  and  desolate  so 
many  happy  homes  by  carrying  its  children  to  the  sacrifice,  and  dye  its  fields  with  such  rivers 
ot  fraternal  blood.  It  was  this  tolerance  of  evil  that  proved  our  only  source  of  strife.  It 
was  in  the  verv  nature  of  things  impossible  that  the  conflicting  principles  of  human  equality 
atnl  property  in  man  should  nourish  side  by  side.  It  could  not  be  otherwise  than  that  the 
idea  of  ownership  in  the  thews  and  sinews  ot  labor  should  have  a  tendency-  not  only  to  degen- 
erate labor  itself,  but  to  change  the  character  of  society,  to  engender  pride,  and  arrogance. 
and  aristocratic  feeling,  and  distinction  of  caste,  and  to  induce  it  to  look  down  upon  the  hardy 
eons  of  toil — the  duellers  in  the  Free  States,  as  an  inferior  race,  unfit  either  to  govern  States 
or  to  encounter  them  in  the  field. 

It  was  no  longer  a  question  between  the  black  man  and  the  white,  nor  between  thoso 
who  thought  there  was  an  argument  for  the  toleration  of  slavery  and  those  who  thought 
otherwise.  It  was  a  question  whether  the  arrogant  and  supercilious  white  men  of  the  South, 
who  affected  to  despise  the  men  of  the  free  States,  should  be  allowed  to  rend  and  destroy  th;> 
I'liion — that  last  hope  of  freedom  to  man,  which  had  been  cemented  by  the  blood  of  our 
fathers  upon  many  a  hard-fought  field.  It  was  a  direct  challenge  to  every  lover  of  liberty 
among  us,  whatever  might  have  been  his  politics,  to  vindicate  the  right  of  self-government 
I  iy  showing  his  ability  to  defend  it  with  the  sword,  if  necessary.  It  was  a  test-question.  The 
world  stood  waiting  on  the  issue.  The  friends  of  liberty  everywhere  trembled,  and  the  advo- 
cates of  arbitrary  power  exulted  as  the  scales  hung  doubtful  in  the  opening  of  the  con  diet. 
The  freemen  of  the  North  could  not  decline  to  meet  it,  and  they  did  meet  it  in  such  way  as  to 
r. -tile  that  question  to  the  confusion  of  the  enemies  of  free  government  forever.  The  world 
has  *eeii  nothing  like  the  answer  which  they  made.  It  was  a  million  of  men  in  arm.-!,  ami  u 
million  more  if  necessary.  It  was  the  last  dollar  and  the  last  drop  of  blood,  if  the  nation  had 
!  lioth  for  that  tremendous  conflict.  The  conflict  is  now  over,  and  the  root  of  bitter- 
ness, the  germ  of  civil  discord,  is  removed.  We  have  weathered  the  only  headland  that  could 
have  threatened  us  with  shipwreck.  From  the  mighty  struggle  that  strained  our  sinews  to 
their  utmost  tension,  we  have  come  up  with  a  new  life,  and  a  development  of  strength  that 
has  astonish^!  the  world  and  ourselves,  and  put  us  at  the  head  of  the  great  powers  of  Chris- 
tendiini.  wfth  a  now  cloudless  sky  \v  us.  that  foretells  a  career  of  greatness,  not  in  arms 
only,  but  in  the  arts  of  industrial  I  in-  aiso,  far  beyond  anything  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

\V;w  not  all  this  worth  the  sacrifice?    Yes,  even  the  sacrifice,  great  as  it  may  have 
eeemed.     Of  those  who  died,  a  nation  saved  will  be  the  monument  so  long  as  time  endures. 


29 

What  hero  of  the  past  rests  in  a  prouder  mausoleum,  or  has  done  a  work  so  great  for 
humanity  as  this?  The  dead,  in  such  a  strife,  are  scarcely  to  be  mourned — for  theirs  is  :\ 
crown  of  imperishable  life.  If  they  are  not  here  to-day,  it  is  only  because  the  glories  of  mar- 
•tyrdom  were  reserved  for  them,  while  we  are  left  to  share  with  others  the  fruits  of  their  great 
struggle.  Honor  to  their  memories ! 

To  you  who  survive,  it  would  be  presumptuous  in  me  to  undertake  to  rehearse  the 
stories  of  your  marches,  your  bivouacs,  and  your  battles — of  your  toils,  your  sufferings,  and 
your  sacrifices,  during  the  years  you  gave  to  the  redemption  of  the  nation.  To  do  so  would 
require  a  recital  of  the  history  of  the  war.  Their  stories  are  already  written,  and  will  be 
read  by  your  children  as  a  lesson  and  an  example. 

It  only  remains  for  me  to  express  the  wish  that  your  visit  may  be  pleasant  and  profit- 
able ;  that  your  action  while  here  may  contribute,  materially,  to  the  maintenance  of  the  princi- 
ples and  objects  for  which  you  fought,  and  to  the  vindication  of  the  Great  Captain  who  led 
you  to  victory,  and  who,  at  the  head  of  the  nation,  has  been  as  true,  efficient,  and  successful, 
iis  he  was  at  the  head  of  its  armies  in  the  field.  And,  my  comrades,  may  you  long  survive 
to  enjoy  the  consciousness  of  duty  well  performed,  and  the  peace  you  have  so  honorably 
earned. 

During  the  applause  which  followed  General  Sweitzer's  remarks,  General  John  W. 
Geary,  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  accompanied  by  General  Ambrose  E.  Burnside,  of  Rhode 
Island,  Chairman  of  the  National  Committee,  appeared  on  the  stage,  and  both  were  received 
by  long-continued  cheers,  which  were  renewed  again  and  again.  When  silence  was  secured, 
Governor  Geary  spoke  as  follows : — 

SPEECH  OF  GOVERNOR  GEARY. 

COMRADES,  LADIES,  AND  GENTLEMEN — Although  it  is  not  in  the  programme,  still,  my 
friends,  our  worthy  President  has  called  upon  me  this  morning,  and  within  a  few  moments, 
to  extend  to  you  a  few  further  words  of  welcome  than  those  contained  in  the  address  of  General 
Sweitzer.  I  most  cordially  indorse  all  that  was  said  in  that  excellent  address,  and  I  may  say 
to  you  that  I  most  gladly  appear  here  this  morning  for  the  purpose  of  meeting,  face  to  face,  so 
many  of  the  familiar  faces  that  I  have  met  in  times  of  trial  and  great  difficulty — in  the  throes  of 
this  nation.  I  am  glad  to  meet  you  as  a  citizen ;  secondly,  as  a  comrade ;  thirdly,  as  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  great  State  of  Pennsylvania.  [Applause.]  I  come  before  you  this  morn- 
ing in  the  name  of  the  great  commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania — the  State  in  which  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  was  first  promulgated — where  the  bell  first  rang  out  "freedom  to  the 
inhabitants  of  the  earth  ! "  •  I  come  before  you  in  the  name  of  a  State  that  has  been  a  State 
ot  freedom  and  of  men  who  were  ever  ready  to  bare  their  breasts  for  the  protection  of  this 
glorious  Union.  I  come  before  you  in  the  name  of  the  State  that  gave  366,000  soldiers  for 
the  preservation  of  the  Union.  [Applause.]  I  feel,  indeed,  when  I  hear  those  cheers,  my 
friends,  that  I  am  in  the  presence  of  comrades  that  gave  the  good  old-fashioned  cheer,  and  not 
the  wolfish  howl  of  the  rebel.  [A  voice — "  No  rebel  yell  here."]  I  am  here  for  a  purpose, 
and  I  don't  intend  to  detain  you  but  for  a  moment.  I  stand  in  the  presence  of  soldiers  from 
all  parts  of  this  Union,  who  have  come  here  to-day  in  order  to  greet  a  great  and  illustrious 
chieftain.  [Applause.]  I  feel  that  you  have  come  here  to-day  to  welcome  another  hero  of 
the  war,  comrades — Major-General  John  F.  Hartranft.  [Applause.]  My  friends,  I  do  not 
wish  to  detain  you  here  long.  I  have  a  few  more  words  to  say.  [Cries  of  "  Go  on,  go  on."] 
I  thank  Almighty  God  that  he  has  preserved  so  many  of  us  to  meet  again  on  the  soil  of  this 
good  old  State,  where  we  may  renew  the  friendships  that  were  formed  on  the  march,  in  the 
bivouac,  and  on  the  field  of  battle.  I  come  to  extend  to  you,  on  behalf  of  the  State  I  represent, 
a  most  sincere,  cordial,  and  hearty  welcome  to  the  good  old  commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania. 
I  assure  a  hearty  welcome  to  each  and  every  one  of  you.  Welcome,  soldiers  and  preservers 
of  this  Union  to  Pennsylvanian  soil !  yea,  a  thrice  hearty  welcome  to  all  of  you.  I  commit 
you  to  the  care  of  my  fellow-citizens  of  Pittsburg.  I  feel  that  they  will  give  you  a  hearty 
welcome,  and  cause  it  to  be  long  remembered  that  the  soldiers  of  the  nation  convened  upon 
this  day — the  tenth  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Antietam  —that  did  so  much  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Union  and  the  breaking  down  of  the  rebellion.  [Applause.]  I  hope  that  your 
sojourn  among  us  will  be  as  pleasant  and  agreeable  to  you  as  it  will  be  to  us.  I  trust  that 
our  meeting  will  be  one  that  shall  be  long  remembered  in  the  heart  of  every  true  and  patriotic 
soldier  in  this  Union. 

I  trust  that  everything  will  be  done  here  that  will  advance  the  cause  in  our  coming 
struggle,  a  cause  in  which  our  hearts  are  so  deeply  engaged.  We  feel  that  this  is  a  conflict 


above  all  others,  my  friends,  which  should  determine  the  great  questions  growing,  out 
war.     The  people  of  the  South  and  the  sympathizers  with  the  rebellion  during  the  wi 


of  the 

war  are 

retting  up  every  year  some  new  questions  that  are  to  be  brought  before  us,  to  show  that  the 
•  iiiestions'  of  the  war  shall  not  be  settled.  We  want  to  gather  and  march  together  in  sol  hi 
column,  and  produce  such  a  result  as  will  cause  that  question  to  be  forever  settled.  In  this 
glorious  struggle  we  ever  intend  to  meet  them  face  to  face.  We  will  make  it  such  a  Water- 
Too,  such  a  Gettysburg,  that  they — [A  voice  -"  Set  Iowa  down  for  50,000  majority  for  Grant ;'' 
Another  voice — ''  Set  Virginia  down  for  10,000  majority  for  Grant"] — will  never  do  so  again. 
Nf\v  Hampshire  has  spoken,  and  we  have  heard  from  Connecticut ;  the  Green  Mountain  boys 
have  spoken,  and  they  have  told  us  in  tones  of  thunder  that  they  intend  to  preserve  the  fruits 
ofvictorv.  [A  voice — "New  York  will  put  on  a  top-dressing  of  20,000."]  We  have  h  ran  I 
fmm  Maine,  and  she  has  given  such  a  majority  as  will  make  assurance  doubly  sure.  A  few 
weeks  ago,  when  I  was  in  New  York,  they  told  me  New  York  was  good  for  80,00(1  for  Greeley. 
Now  they  tell  me  the  city  cannot  give  him  more  than  10,000  or  Ifi.uoo.  [A  voice — "The 
little  Democratic  State  of  New  Jersey  will  roll  up  a  majority  of  10,000  for  Grant.'']  And  I 
begin  to  think,  my  friends,  that  the  oldest  encyclopedia  of  all  the  isms  of  the  country  may 
possibly  receive  the  vote  of  Kentucky.  [Great  applause.]  [A  voice — "We  spoke  from 
North  Carolina  last  month."]  Gentlemen  and  comrades,  I  reiterate  my  welcome — a  thrice 
hearty  welcome.  [A  voice — "The possum  policy  will  bury  Gmtz  Brown,  Frank  Blair,  anil 
Carl  Schurz  forever  benetith  the  snow-drifts."]  I  will  add  one  word  •more  to  my  Missouri 
friend's  expression — we  will  all  yo  to  the  funeral.  [Laughter  and  applause.] 

On  the  conclusion  of  Governor  Geary's  address,  General  Burnside  appeared,  and  was 
i  with  rounds  of  applause,  cheers  being  also  given  for  "  Little  Rhody."    Quiet  having 
been  restored,  General  Burnside  introduced  Rev.  William  Preston,  of  Pittsburg,  who  offered 
the  following  prayer  I—- 
PRAYER. 

O,  Thou  great  Author  of  Creation  !  we  rejoice  to  call  Thee  our  Heavenly  Father.  Unto 
Thee  shall  fill  Hesh  come  ;  and  we  rejoice,  our  Heavenly  Father,  at  the  privilege  of  drawing 
•liuli  to  Thy  throne  of  grace,  in  thename  of  our  Divine  Redeemer,  with  the  assurance  that, 
if  we  come  in  his  name,  and  acknowledge  Thee  in  all  our  ways,  Thou  wilt  direct  our  paths. 
We  trust  in  Thy  infinite  mercy  in  Christ  Jesus.  We  rejoice  that  Thou  art  the  Lord  our  (iod, 
the  C,<M\  of  our  fathers,  the  God  of  our  country,  and  the  God  of  all  flesh.  We  rejoice  in  Thy 
precious  Word,  and  in  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  Thy  Son  ;  that  Thou  hast  so  loved  the  world 
as  to  give  Thine  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him  miulit  not  perish, 
but  have  everlasting  life.  We  thank  Thee  for  all  Thy  blessings,  tor  all  Thy  mercies:  for 
the  prosperity  and  peace  in  all  our  borders,  and  for  the  friendly  relations  which  prevail 
!<••!  \\.-en  our  country  and  all  foreign  lands.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  abundant  harvests  of  the 
season,  and  for  the  prosperous  condition  of  the  nation  in  all  its  commercial  and  financial 
interests.  \Ve  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  spared  us  from  the  pestilence  which  walketh  in 
darkness,  from  the  destruction  which  wasteth  at  noon-day.  All  these.  Father  of  Mercies, 
are  Thy  good  and  perfect  girts;  and  we  call  upon  our  souls  and  all  that  is  within  us  to 
praise  and  magnify  Thy  glorious  name,  praying  that  Thou  wouldst  give  us  that  peace  and 
bVs-ing  that  'I  hou  givest  to  all  Thy  servants.  We  beseech  Thee  give  us  hearts  to  appre- 
ciate Thy  goodne«»  and  mercies,  and  help  us  to  live  no  more  unto  ourselves  and  unto  the 
world,  but  unto  Him  who  died  for  us  and  rose  again. 

Now,  our  Heavenly  Father,  we  pi-ay  that  Thou  wouldst  hold  in  favor  and  bless  Thy 
servant,  the  I 'resident  of  these  United  States,  and  all  others  in  authority,  mid  so  replenish 
them  with  the  grace  of  Thy  holy  Spirit,  that  they  may  always  incline  to  Thy  will  and  walk 
in  Thy  ways.  Endue  them  with  Thy  holy  Spirit,  that  Thy  great  name  shall  be  glorified  in 
all  their  ways.  Bless,  also,  we  beseech  Thee,  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  our  own  country, 
and  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those  who  have  passed  away,  and  are  to  be  seen  among  us 
no  more.  May  they  never  be  forgotten  in  the  prayers,  sympathies,  and  kindness  of  the 
nation  ;  and  to  all  of  us  give  Thy  heavenly  grace,  that  we  may  know  and  do  all  our  duty  to 
Thee,  to  our  country,  and  to  our  fellow-men. 

Bless  us,  especially,  our  God,  in  the  forgiveness  of  all  our  sins,  and  with  those  spiritual 
Mings  in  Christ  Jesus,  which  are  the  foretaste  and  pledge  of  our  everlasting  salvation. 
BUM  this  ('onv.-ntion  now  assembled  here;  guide  them  in  all  their  deliberations.  May 
wisdom  from  <m  hitrh  enlighten  every  mind,  and  the  spirit  of  true  holiness  reign  in  every 
heart,  that  whatsoever  is  done  may  be  betrun.  continued,  and  ended  in  Thee,  so  Thy  great 
n  .me  may  be  glorified  in  all  things,  through  Jesus  Christ,  our  glorious  Redeemer. 


31 

Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven,  hallowed  be  Thy  name;  Thy  kingdom  come ;  Thy 
will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven.  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread,  and  forgive  us 
our  trespasses,  as  we  forgive  them  that  trespass  against  us.  Lead  us  not  into  temptation, 
but  deliver  us  from  evil,  for  Thine  is  the  kingdom,  the  power,  and  the  glory,  for  ever.  Amen. 

Gen.  Burnside  then  formally  called  the  Convention  to  order,  and  spoke  as 
follows : — 

SPEECH   OF   GENERAL  BURNSIDE. 

COMRADES — While  in  attendance  as  a  delegate  to  the  National  Republican  Convention  in 
Philadelphia,  it  was  suggested  to  me  that  it  would  be  proper  for  veterans  of  the  late  war  to 
assemble  in  mass  convention,  to  express  th^ir  views  upon  the  political  questions  which  are 
now  agitating  the  country.  Knowing  as  I  did  that  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  Union 
army  entered  the  service  of  their  country  from  patriotic  motives,  and,  when  the'r  work  was 
completed,  returned  to  thefr  peaceful  pursuits  without  discord  or  commotion,  and  became 
quiet,  peaceful  citizens,  and  that  their  opinions  would  be  respected,  I  at  once  joined  heartily 
in  the  movement. 

A  meeting  of  those  who  were  attending  the  Philadelphia  Convention,  and  who  had  been 
identified  with  the  army  and  navy  of  the  Union,  was  called,  and  a  National  Committee  of 
Veterans  was  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  for  this  grand  mass  convention,  and 
this  day,  as  a  memorable  anniversary,  was  named  as  the  day  of  meeting.  I  had  the  great 
honor  of  being  named  as  the  chairman  of  that  committee;  and  I  now  appear  before  you,  com- 
rades, to  complete  the  duties  which  devolved  upon  me,  by  calling  your  Convention  to  order 
r.nd  naming  to  you  a  temporary  chairman. 

It  is  quite  unnecessary  for  me  to  say  to  you  that,  in  making  arrangements  for  this  Con- 
vention, the  main  part  of  the  work  necessary  to  its  success,  and  to  your  comfort  and  happi- 
ness, has  been  done  by  the  local  committees,  and  the  loyal  men  and  women  of  Pittsburg  and 
vicinity.  [Applause.]  You  can  all  bear  testimony  to  the  great  service  which  has  been  per- 
formed by  Col.  L.  E.  Dudley,  the  Secretary  of  the  National  Committee. 

Comrades,  you  have  before  you  a  great  duty  to  perform,  second  only  to  that  winch 
devolved  upon  you  when  you  left  your  homes  to  battle  for  the  preservation  and  integrity  of 
the  nation.  It  is  but  a  few  short  years  since  you  returned  to  your  peaceful  pursuits,  and 
you  now  find  yourselves  confronted  by  a  formidable  coalition,  composed  of  bad  and  weak 
men,  who  were  either  in  open  hostility  to  the  authority  of  the  Government,  or  in  active  sym- 
pathy with  the  enemies  of  their  country  during  the  time  of  its  greatest  trouble.  [Applause.] 

This  combination  has  been  enhanced  in  numbers  by  the  desertion  of  a  few  disappointed, 
discontended,  and  dilapidated  men  who  acted  with  the  Republican  party  during  the  war,  and 
a  large  majority  of  whom  have  been  heavy  weights  upon  the  Republican  party  ever  since. 
[Laughter  and  applause.] 

I  had,  during  the  war,  a  slight  personal  experience,  which  illustrates  the  course  which 
these  men  pursued.  All  my  comrades  of  Western  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Indiana  will 
remember  that  I  was  compelled  by  a  sense  of  duty  to  arrest  Mr.  Vallandigham  [loud  ap- 
plause] for  treasonable  conduct  during  the  war.  You  will  also  remember  that  I  gave  him 
fair  warning  by  issuing  General  Order  No.  38.  In  disregard  of  that  order,  he  continued  to 
counsel  resistance  to  the  authority  of  the  Government,  and  was  therefore  arrested.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, in  the  kindness  of  his  heart,  urged  me  to  release  Mr.  Vallandigham,  and  gave  me  the 
names  of  distinguished  citizens  who  had  told  him  that  I  had  made  a  very  serious  mistake  in 
making  the  arrest,  and  that  Mr.  Vallandigham  would  be  considered  as  a  martyr,  and  that 
the  political  enemies  of  the  Administration  in  Ohio  would  at  once  make  him  their  standard- 
bearer  as  a  candidate  for  Governor,  and  elect  him  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  [Shouts  of 
"Never!"  *'They  did  not  do  it,''  etc.]  I  represented  to  Mr.  Lincoln  that  I  was  upon  the 
ground  and  knew  the  situation  better  than  those  gentlemen,  and  that  Mr.  Vallandigham 
would  not  be  released  unless  superior  authority  so  ordered.  [Applause.]  Mr.  Lincoln  said 
to  me  that  he  would  not  interfere,  but  had  simply  given  advice  at  the  instance  of  prominent 
citizens.  Among  these  was  Mr.  Trumbull,  of  Illinois.  [Groans  and  hisses.]  What  was 
the  result  of  this  decision  of  Mr.  Lincoln  declining  to  interfere,  as  he  was  urged  to  do  by  Mr. 
Trumbull  and  others  ?  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  put  forward  as  a  candidate  and  was  beaten 
by  that  gallant  old  war-horse,  Gov.  Brough,  by  over  one  hundred  thousand  majority.  [Im- 
mense applause.]  The  action  of  the  people  of  Ohio  at  that  time  demonstrated  their  loyalty 
to  the  Government,  and  I  doubt  not  that  their  action  in  the  present  campaign  will  quite  as 
strongly  illustrate  it.  [Applause,  and  cries  of  "  It  will ! "] 

1  will  not  detain  you,  comrades,  by  discussing  the  political  questions  of  the  day.  You 
will  have  them  fully  discussed  by  other  people  who  are  skilled  in  public  debate ;  besides,  I 


32 

am  quite  satisfied  that  you  are  all  fully  posted  upon  such  topic?.  Men  that  have  served  in 
the  field,  and  staked  their  lives  upon  an  issue  so  important  to  their  country,  cannot  approach 
a  political  canvass  like  the  present  without  appreciating  keenly  the  real  issues  ol  the  con- 
test It  will  not  be  amiss,  however,  for  me  to  say  that  I  join  you  in  the  belief  that  Gen. 
Grant  has  been  a  gallant  soldier  [immense  applause  and  cheers] ;  that  he  has  done  a  service 
to  bis  count  i  y  in  tin-  iield  which  cannot  be  over-estimated  [applause]  ;  that  he  lias  conducted 
the  affairs  of  the  Government,  since  he  has  been  Chief  Magistrate,  with  great  discretion  and 
i'ltftrritv,  and  has  shown  himself  in  every  way  disposed  to  peace  at  home  and  abroad,  ami 
entirely  free  from  personal  self-seeking  and  aggrandizement.  [Applause.]  We  are  here  to 
express  to  the  country  our  continued  confidence  in  Gen.  Grant  and  our  purpose  to  elect  him 
as  President  for  a  second  term.  [Uproarious  applause,  shouts  and  cheers — the  audience 
rising,  and  many  waving  their  hats.]  And  we  are  fortunate  in  having  associated  witli  him 
a  man  who  has  always  been  our  staunch  friend,  and  has,  as  a  legislator,  shown  the  greatest 
wisdom  and  integrity.  [Applause.] 

I  am  nuite  sure  that  we  will  not  make  ourselves  misunderstood  to-day  by  expressing 
any  ill-feeling  towards  our  late  enemies  in  the  field,  because  we  have  no  such  ill-feeling.  Wi- 
know  that  the  hatchet  is  buried,  and  we  are  disposed  to  do  all  in  our  power  to  co-operate  witli 
people  in  all  sections  of  our  land  in  forwarding  the  prosperity  of  our  country.  But  for  rulers, 
comrades,  let  us  select  men  who  in  the  hour  of  their  country's  peril  were  true.  [Applause.] 
Let  us,  of  all  things,  refuse  our  support  to  men  who  believed  that  there  was  right  in  secession ! 
[Shouts  of  applause.] 

And  now,  comrades  of  Pennsylvania,  I  desire  to  express  to  you  a  hope  that  comes  from 
my  heart.  Gen.  Hartranft  [enthusiastic  applause],  your  candidate  tor  Governor,  is  my 
old  comrade  and  tried  friend.  [Applause.]  He  went  into  the  field  with  us  at  the  first  battle 
of  the  war,  and  joined  the  North  Carolina  expedition  at  Annapolis.  From  that  time  until  the 
end  of  the  war  we  were  together;  on  the  fields  of  Roanoke,  Newberne,  South  Mountain, 
Antietam,  Fredericksburg,  Vicksburg,  Knoxville,  Campbell's  Station,  Blue  Spring,  the 
Kapidan  campaign  from  the  Wilderness  to  Appomattox  Court-House  [applause],  he  proved 
himself  an  efficient  and  gallant  soldier.  Comrades  of  Pennsylvania,  it  is  clearly  your  duty, 
without  reference  to  politics,  to  see  that  so  gallant  and  true  a  comrade  is  not  harmed  by  the 
malicious  slanders  of  designing  politicians.  [Three  immense  cheers  were  here  given  for  <  <eu. 
Hartranft.]  You  have  but  for  a  moment  to  think  of  the  course  pursued  during  the  war  by 
his  opponent,  Mr.  Buckalew,  in  order  to  find  the  strongest  reason  for  the  firm  support  ol 
Ilartranft.  [Applause.] 

Comrades,  my  personal  duties  require  me  to  leave  you  before  the  deliberations  of  your 
minting  are  concluded.  As  you  all  know,  I  am  engaged  in  civil  pursuits ;  I  have  never  in 
my  life  solicited  on  office,  and  never  expect  to.  I  can  therefore  speak  to  you  my  unbiased 
sentiments.  I  beg  of  you  to  make  every  honest  effort  to  re-elect  Gen.  Grant,  and  to  eler* 
(n-n.  Hartranft  to  the  office  of  Governor  of  the  great  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania. 
[Renewed  shouts  of  applause,  and  cheers.] 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure,  comrades,  to  announce  to  you  that  the  National  Committee 
propoM'.-  tn  you  as  your  temporary  chairman,  our  gallant  comrade,  so  well  known  to  every 
soldier  in  the  land,  Gen.  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  of  Connecticut.  [Loud  and  prolonged  cheering.] 

Gen.  Hawley's  name  was  greeted  with  loud  and  continued  applause,  and  a? 
In-  appeared  on  the  platform  the  cheering  was  again  renewed.  He  spoke  ju» 

follows: — 

GENERAL   IIAWLEY's   SPEECH. 

Gen.  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  of  Connecticut,  was  then  chosen  temporary  chair- 
man, and  came  forward,  when  he  was  greeted  with  "  Three  cheers  for  Gen. 
Ilawk-y,"  which  were  given  with  a  will.  He  then  said : — 

COMI:AI>KS  AXD  FELLOW-CITIZENS— I  judge,  from  the  aspect  of  the  great  city— 
from  the  multitudes  that  throng  its  streets,  and  the  continuous  roll  of  drums  and  these 
great  cheers,  that  a  certain  statesman  of  the  land  is  slightly  mistaken.  The  time  for  the 
soldier  has  come.  [Applause.]  The  time  for  the  soldier  is  now,  and  always  will  be  in  this 
land  [cries  of  '•  That's  so"],  not  to  be  called  to  the  battle-field,  I  trust,  perhaps,  never  again. 
I  hope  this  may  always  be  the  land  of  peace,  and  there  will  always  be  occasion  here  for 
hat  spirit  of  patriotism  and  self-sacrificing  loyalty  to  the  country — that  devoted  attach- 
ment to  republican  principles,  that  love  of  order,  and  civil  law,  and  peace,  that  distinguishes 
the  American  soldier — the  spirit  of  the  army,  that  we  are  thinking  of,  not  the  army 
organization.  This  distinguished  statesman  has  told  us  the  time  for  the  soldier  has  passed. 


DO 

oo 

I  think,  judging  by  the  slanders  and  these  malignant  attacks  on  General  Grant,  that  the 
spirit  of  the  rebellion  is  still  rife.  They  say  that  the  doctrine  of  secession  is  now  at  rest, 
and  that  the  policy  of  the  nation  is  unduly  severe  and  harsh  towards  the  men  who  were 
engaged  in  the  late  rebellion — that  the  time  for  the  soldier  to  appear  as  a  patriot  and 
voter  has  come  again.  We  have  heard  "that  the  pen  is  mightier  than  the  sword;"  so  it  is 
in  the  long  run.  Clwles  Sumner  has  been  an  eloquent  and  powerful  advocate  of  the 
principles  over  which  this  great  contest  was  fought.  The  sword  was  merely  used  as  a  last 
resort  in  deciding  this  contest  of  ideas. 

Half  a  generation  has  passed  over  our  heads  in  discussing  this  question.  The  contest 
was  as  fierce  in  the  Senate-chamber  and  on  the  field  of  politics  as  it  was  on  the  battle-field. 

Now,  then,  to  remove  the  presence  of  the  soldier  is  an  offense  to  those  who  were 
defeated.  What  shall  we  say  in  the  presence  of  his  assertion,  and  in  the  presence  of  an 
orator  who  is  no  less  distinguished  for  his  part  in  the  Grant  campaign,  and  loose  men  who 
are  crying  and  lamenting,  as  Horace  Greeley  laments  in  his  letter  of  acceptance  to  the 
Baltimore  Convention,  and  that  where  the  spirit  of  rebellion  is  unable  to  send  to  places  of 
trust — Palmer,  Davis,  Breckenridge,  every  man  of  them  rebels. 

This  same  Horace  Greeley  is  the  man  who  desires  Jefferson  Davis  and  Breckenridge 
to  be  returned  to  the  U.  S.  Senate.  I  want  to  know  wrhich  is  the  greatest  offense,  the 
presence  of  Grant  or  Sumner  ?  To  have  a  regimental  flag,  with  its  inscription,  is  out  of 
place,  as  Sumner  says.  If  it  be  out  of  place,  then  Grant  is  the  flag  bearing  the  odious 
inscription ;  then,  if  we  have  to  remove  Grant,  then  let  us  remove  Sumner  and  his  ten 
volumes  of  orations ;  also  you  must  level  every  grave.  That  will  furnish  a  reminder  of 
their  vanquished  enemy.  This  is  what  Sumner  speaks  to  us :  You  must  remove  every 
monument  of  the  old  contest. 

These  men  who,  ten  years  ago,  went  to  the  front  and  periled  their  lives  in  the  defense 
of  the  country,  are  to  be  told,  it  is  said,  to  take  back  seats — go  to  the  rear,  lest,  indeed, 
their  presence  may  be  offensive  to  those  who  were  loyal  in  the  rebellion.  Of  all  the  charges 
that  this  combination  make  against  us,  none  is  to  me  more  offensive  than  that — that  \ve 
are  actuated  by  some  spirit  of  hate  and  by  a  policy  of  revenge.  Now,  we  may  safely  say, 
that  we  challenge  the  history  of  any  country  to  produce  such  a  record  as  ours  —such  a 
record  of  magnanimity  expressed  by  this  Union. 

Wherever  we  went  in  the  South  we  fed  the  women  and  children  whose  husbands  and 
brothers  were  engaged  in  rebellion  against  the  Government. 

I  remember  well  a  little  chapter  in  my  own  experience  in  Wilmington,  North 
Carolina,  of  receiving  ten  thousand  men  from  Andersonville,  whom  we  fed.  and  also  fed 
seven  thousand  white  women,  a  majority  of  whom  had  relations  in  the  rebellion.  Was 
that  the  spirit  of  hate,  or  the  policy  of  revenge  ?  And  when  the  last  day  of  the  contest 
came,  and  General  Grant  went  modestly  under  the  apple-tree  at  Appomattox  and  conducted 
the  services  of  surrender,  what  did  this  nation,  through  its  chosen  chief  soldier,  do? — this 
nation  that  had  sacrificed  five  thousand  millions  of  dollars  and  half  a  million  of  lives — 
this  Union  that  then  had  within  its  grasp  the  last  of  the  rebellion — what  did  it  do  ?  What 
did  it  say  to  those  men  ?  It  let  them  go  to  their  homes,  not  to  be  molested  by  the  United 
States  authorities  so  long  as  they  obeyed  the  laws.  Was  that  the  spirit  of  hate?  [Cheers], 
Was  that  the  spirit  of  revenge?  [Cries  of  "No !  no  !"]  And  the  great  soldier  of  the  land 
said  this  to  the  civilians  of  the  land.  Many  of  them  were  clamorous  for  revenge,  and  men 
reproached  him,  and  rebuked  him  for  his  excessive  clemency. 

After  the  papers  were  signed,  General  Lee  turned  to  General  Grant  and  said :  "  General 
Grant,  thei  e  is  one  thing  I  had  forgotten ;  the  papers  are  signed ;  it  is,  perhaps,  too  late 
now;  it  is  this:  I  was  about  to  observe  that  many  of  our  men  in  the  ranks  own  their 
horses,  both  in  the  artillery  and  cavalry.  I  would  ask  that  they  might  have  them,  as  you 
have  permitted  the  officers  to  take  their  side-arms." 

"No  matter  about  the  papers,"  said  General  Grant;  "I  will  give  orders  to  the  officers 
to  let  these  men  take  their  horses  home  with  them ;  they  will  need  them  in  the  spring 
ploughing."  [Cheers.] 

There  was  a  great  army,  victorious  and  triumphant,  the  arany  of  the  United  States, 
and  these  men  would  have  us  believe  that  our  spirit  was  the  same  then  as  it  is  to-day,  and 
the  same  to-day  as  it  was  then:  that  they  are  animated  by  a  spirit  of  hatred  and  revenge; 
was  this  saying  to  these  men  who  were  engaged  in  the  war,  go  home,  rest  at  peace,  just 
obey  the  laws,  and  take  your  horses  home  with  you,  and  feeding  them  too,  the  men  dividing 
their  haversacks  with  them  [cheers],  and  that  too  by  the  thousands- these  same  rebel 
soldiers  had  been  taught  to  hate  the  Yankees,  but  tKis  act  caused  the  tears  to  pour  down 
their  cheeks.  This  was  an  inexpressible  magnanimity.  Was  this  a  policy  of  hate  or 

3 


84 

revenge T  No;  we  are  the  same  to-day  as  then.  Did  we  confiscate  property?  No.  Did 
we  banish  them?  Never  a  man  of  them.  Several  thousand  ot  them  felt  a  bitter  hatred  to 
the  old  Hag.  ami  swore  they  would  never  live  under  its  folds.  They  banished  themselves 
to  South  America.  In  a  short  time  many  of  these  men  were  hungry,  ragL'ed.  and  home- 
sick, and  Uncle  Sam  brought  them  home  free  by  the  hundreds.  Was  this,  again,  the  jx>licy 
of  hate  or  revenge? 

Yes,  comrades,  this  was  our  government.    This  was  our  Republican  party  governing; 

•a  then;  and.  when  a  grievous  visitation  of  Providence  brought  starvation  to  tin; 

South,  our  Congress,  by  our  own  free  will,  voted,  one  session,  five  millions  of  dollars  to  feed 

them.      The  purses  of  the    North   were  opened,   and   the   granaries   discharged   of  their 

benefit.-.     This,  indeed,  was  not  the  policy  of  hate  and  of  revenge. 

We  have  one  request  indeed  to  make  of  these  men.  We  have  but  one  disability,  one 
link  of  approval  remaining  Only  one  statute  remains  — one  act  of  legislation  to  show  the 
sense  of  this  nation  that  this  great  rebellion  was  a  crime.  That  is  the  temporary  M  elusion 
from  office  of  a  few,  a  very  few  of  the  guilty  superiors,  the  terribly  guilty  leadens  who 
dragged  their  people  into  this  awful  slaughter.  \\  e  say  to  some  of  them — less  than  threw 
hundred  remain  now — you  cannot  hold  office  again  until  Congress  permits.  We  have  one 
thing  to  say  to  these  men.  We  had,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  really  but  one  thing  to  ask  of 
them.  Every  step  of  reconstructed  legislation,  every  act  taken  by  the  Republican  Con- 
gress, every  act,  and  every  order  of  General  Grant,  has  had  in  view  this — the  safety  of  the 
Jives  and  the  persons  and  the  property  of  our  loyal  brothers  at  the  South. 

We  have  confiscated  no  property  and  banished  nobody.  We  whipped  no  one,  drowned 
no  one,  we  have  hanged  no  one.  Gentlemen,  men  who  were  in  the  rebellion,  can  you  say 
as  much  for  yourselves  since  the  war?  [Cries  of  "  No,  no."]  Have  you  done  none  of 
these  things  to  our  friends  down  there?  If  we  have  ever  been  angry,  it  is  these  which  have 
filled  us  with  righteous  indignation  after  the  flag  marched  in  triumph  over  every  foot  of 
Southern  soil — after  you  have  professed  to  have  surrendered  in  good  faith,  and  to  have 
accepted  the  situation.  Week  after  week,  and  month  after  month  the  cry  came  up.  and  wa* 
from  imiTiy  of  the  white  regions  in  the  South,  that  the  loyal  white  men  and  the  poor-  black, 
men  were  taken  from  their  homes — were  scourged — were  sometimes  drowned,  sometimes 
liani>hed,  sometimes  hanged — that  they  could  not  enjoy  their  homes  or  raise  their  crops  in 
peace  ;  that  they  could  not  hold  Republican  meetings,  or  any  meetings  in  honor  of  the  Hag. 
This  has  been  the  complaint  from  month  to  month  and  year  to  year.  If  we  have  some 
harshness  in  our  legislation,  it  was  that  this  might  be  prevented.  Why,  in  the  name  of 
God  and  humanity,  was  this  just  and  fair  to  these  men,  and  why  do  they  com*  to  us  with 
the  pretense  of  shaking  hands  across  the  bloodier  chasm,  when  there  is  a  chasm  and  a 
bloody  chasm  at  their  own  door  a  chasm  of  their  own  making,  which  we  shall  have  to 
bridge  over.  Do  that  first,  and  you  will  find  the  great  heart  of  the  North,  where  it  hat* 
been  aching  to  have  all  men  praying  for  the  day  when  justice  and  peace  may  prevail  every- 
where; and  the  answer  to  all  tne  appeals  of  these  men,  in  answer  to  all  their  cries.  J  have 
but  one  thing  to  say,  I  would  placard  it  upon  all  cross-roads.  I  would  put  it  upon  every 
court-house.  I  would  print  it  upon  every  door  in  the  South.  I  would  have  it  where 
every  one  might  read  it:  "Do  unto  others  as  you  would  have  others  do  unto  you." 
[Great  cheers.  J 

I  eay  I  shall  not  think  of  eulogizing  here  Ulysses  S.  Grant  before  these  soldiers. 
[Cheers.]  There  is  not  an  audience  in  this  land  that  needs  it  less.  There  are  people, 
however,  that  ought  to  be  reminded  of  what  he  has  done  for  the  country.  [Laughter.] 
There  are  men  who  are  famous  as  defenders  of  the  land,  whose  speeches  are  daily 
filled,  and  papers  whose  columns  are  crowded  with  defamation  of  the  man. 

They  look  in  al  the  back  door  of  his  house,  they  peep  into  his  cellar,  they  smell  about 
his  stables,  they  hunt  for  the  title-deeds  of  his  lands,  they  search  through  the  certificates 
of  stock  that  he  may  hold,  they  suffer  no  relation  of  life  to  be  met  without  putting  upon  it 
the  venomous  stain  of  their  slander.  There  never  has  been  a  presidential  candidate,  since 
animation  of  the  Government,  so  venomously,  unceasingly,  and  unforgivingly  pursued. 
I  beg  for  him,  in  the  name  of  the  memories  of  t lie  past — I  beg  for  General  Grant  something 
of  that  universal  amnesty  of  which  they  are  talking.  [Cheers.]  Forgive  him!  Furgive 
him!  [Cheers  and  laughter.]  lie  may  sometimes  have  erred.  He  may  have  made  a  mis- 
take. He  may  not  be  absolutely  beautiful  or  sublimely  parfect.  [Laughter.]  There  never 
was  but  one  man  who  ims  p<  rfn't .  General  Grant  may  have  erred  sometimes  in  theappoint- 
•ie  l.as  made.  Alas  !  I  know  that  the  cry  of  his  enemies  is  that  he  did  make  many 
mistakes:  K.;t  I  say  we  can  afford  t*>  overlook  seme  things,  and  we  must  remind  these  men 
of  some  thing*  also  that  he  has  done  for  the  land.  They  say  he  is  a  man  of  no  capacity. 


35 

There  arc  several  thousands  of  us  who  started  early  in  the  war  as  captains  and  as  colonels 
One  of  them  went  up  and  up  and  up ;  and  again,  by  the  unanimous  cry  of  his  party,  he  was 
sent  up  again  until  he  was  called  to  Washington,  and  the  little  man,  as  he  gave  him  his  com- 
mission said :  "  Take  this  ;  as  the  people  now  trust  you,  so  under  God  they  will  sustain  you," 
and  then  every  loyal  heart  in  this  land  prayed  God  that  this  little  man,  who  seemed  to  have 
been  brought  from  obscurity  to  save  us  and  to  lead  us  to  triumph,  would  succeed;  and  when 
he  went  down  to  the  Wilderness  we  knew  there  was  fighting  to  be  done.  Then,  my  com- 
rades, you  of  the  Western  armies  know  that  there  was  a  soldier  over  the  army  of  the  PotQ- 
mac  and  that  there  was  a  man  at  the  head  who  meant  work.  [Cries  of  "  Good  "  and  cheers.] 
There  was  a  little  man  who  meant  victory,  and  we  all  knew  that  if  ever  this  country  was  to 
be  saved  it  was  to  be  saved  in  those  months.  On  the  first,  second,  and  third  of  May,  1864, 
we  hastily  perfected  our  muster-rolls,  we  gathered  our  clothing  and  provisions,  and  sent 
back  our  surplus  baggage.  We  hurried  off  the  long  roll.  How  many  gallant  boys  luunl 
their  names  called  for  the  last  time  that  night.  Next  morning  all  along  the  great  circle 
we  started  forward  and  fought  in  the  Wilderness,  over  miles  of  broken  land,  where  a  man 
could  no  more  than  see  his  comrade.  We  were  slaughtered  that  day,  and  the  next  day,  and 
the  next.  The  fourth  day  and  the  fifth  we  fought  until  the  darkness  fell  upon  us.  They 
did  not  know  what  we  were  doing  or  what  we  might  do.  Able  men  came  to  Grant  and  said  : 
41  General,  we  must  stop  a  day  or  two.  Wre  must  indeed  bury  these  dead  men  ;  we  must,  in- 
deed; really,  we  cannot  go  on.  We  need  more  clothing.  We  must  halt."  Said  the  great 
general,  •'  You  have  done  very  well  so  far — very  well  under  all  the  circumstances.  To- 
morrow morning  at  half-past  three  the  army  goes  forward  "  [great  cheering] ;  and,  terrible  as 
the  slaughter  was,  as  you  answer  now  to  the  memory  of  it,  so  the  great  heart  of  the  nation 
answered,  "  Go  on,"  and  on  the  night  of  the  sixth  day  he  wrote  a  little  dispatch  :  "  Our  losses 
have  been  severe ;  we  have  captured  Johnson's  division  and  two  brigades  besides,  and  we  have 
taken  about  thirty  pieces  of  artillery,  and  it  seems  to  be  with  us.  I  shall  fight  it  out  on  this 
line,  if  it  takes  all  summer."  [Renewed  cheering.] 

I  wonder  if  all  these  enemies  of  Grant  remember  how  they  felt  in  those  days — followed 
him  through  the  Wilderness  to  the  Appomattox,  of  which  we  have  spoken.  As  a  soldier  he 
was  everything  the  crisis  demanded ;  as  a  victor,  after  dictating  terms  never  equaled  for 
magnanimity,  instead  of  affording  him  triumph  or  even  time  to  rest,  he  started  right  from 
Kichmond,  and  took  his  bag  and  started  for  Washington.  [Cheers.]  He  started  for  Wash- 
ington.and  telegraphed  to  stop  expenses;  and  whatever  his  course  has  been,  it  has  been 
marked  throughout  with  forbearance  ;  whatever  has  been  done  has  been  done  for  peace,  life, 
and  prosperity  throughout  the  land.  Now,  a  single  word  and  I  am  done.  [Cries  of  "  Go  on."] 
The  election  of  a  candidate  in  the  field  against  General  Grant  would  have  several  meanings. 
I  give  as  the  first  of  them,  it  would  be  the  triumph  of  a  man  who  believes  in  the  theoretical 
meaning  of  secession.  Now.  I  appeal  to  the  files  of  the  Tribune  for  the  winter  of  18GO  and 
1861,  for  the  countless  declarations  to  that  effect.  They  are  known  to  the  people  of  the  laud. 
[A  voice,  "  And  the  year  'ti;5  also."]  You  are  right ;  all  along  through  the  war.  And  if  it 
be  said  that  these  declarations  of  the  newspaper  press  may  not  be  directly  authorized  by  him ; 
if  it  be  said  these  were  the  sentiments  then  entertained,  and  since  laid  aside,  I  appeal  to  the 
history  of  the  "  American  Conflict,"  written  since  the  great  struggle  was  over — deliberately 
in  review  of  the  principles  and  acts  of  the  great  struggle — many  years  back ;  in  the  first 
volume,  on  the  3lJth  page  of  the  book,  if  I  remember  rightly,  he  says  in  substance  :  "If  any 
considerable  number  of  States  desire  to  go  out,  let  them  go,  and  I  would  resist  all  measures 
devised  to  keep  them  in  by  force."  [Cries  of  "  Never,"  and  hisses.]  This  was  the  sentiment 
of  Horace  Greeley  ;  and  with  a  full  knowledge  of  what  I  am  saying — and  I  feel  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  presence  here,  and  I  am  fully  aware  of  these  busy  pens  and  wires — I  say  to  you 
here,  that  whatever  there  be  left  of  the  spirit  of  rebellion  in  this  land  to-day,  these  are  the 
sentiments  of  Horace  Greeley  ;  and  if  he  be  elected,  there  will  be  a  man  in  the  presidential 
chair  entertaining  in  substance  the  sentiments  of  James  Buchanan  ;  and  with  these  declara- 
tions in  view,  in  the  event  of  another  insurrection,  Horace  Greeley  would  say  the  same  thing 
as  James  Buchanan.  It  is  impossible  to  see  how  we  could  call  upon  him  at  the  first  symptom 
of  insurrection  to  put  it  down.  It  has  another  significance  now.  We  may  diCer  about  the 
details  of  amnesty.  We  are  all  well  agreed  in  this,  that  if  entire  perfect  peace  and  justice 
•would  really  and  thoroughly  be  established  in  the  South,  it  would  bring  very  soon  an  entire 
amnesty.  And  we  are  also  perfectly  aware  that  the  day  has  not  come  for  that  state  of  affairs. 
Horace  Greeley,  by  his  letter  of  acceptance  addressed  to  the  Baltimore  Convention,  dwells 
at  some  length  upon  the  hai-shness  of  forbidding  the  people  of  the  South  to  choose  its  men  to 
rule  over  them — there  being  only  three  hundred  so  excluded.  According  to  Horace  Greelej', 
there  is  a  desire  to  elect  these  three  hundred  with  Jeff.  Davis  at  their  head.  He  stands  as  the 


36 

peculiar  representative  of  that  sentiment,  and  the  election  of  Horace  Greeley  will  be  to  say  that 

willing  tor  those  men  to  come  back  to  place*  of  power.  [Cries  of  •'  No,  no.''] 
Thirdly,  the  elevation  ot  Horace  Greeley  would  mean  this,  that  the  nation  has  been  unduly 
harsh  and  "unjustly  severe  in  de;iling  with  the  rebels.  That  is  one  of  the  greatest  points, 
perhaps  the  chief  point  made  by  them  against  us.  If  we  are  unduly  harsh  and  unjustly  se- 
vere in  tlealiiu.'  with  the  rebellion,  it  in  not  the  Republican  party  alone,  but  the  nation  ;  for 
the  policv  ot  the  Union  has  been,  during  those  eleven  years,  not  to  confiscate  or  take  away 
their  property ;  they  have  not  hanged  a  man  or  tried  a  man  for  treason.  Has  this  great  na- 
tion been  severe  in  dealing  with  them  f  Is  that  the  judgment  of  the  past  eleven  years  f  The 
ii.iti'in  is  asked  as  a  jury  to  send  in  a  verdict  that  this  party  is  tried,  and  is  found  t<x>  cruel 
to  continue  in  power.  Will  the  people  of  this  country  give  that  verdict?  [Cries  of  "No, 
no."]" 

But  further:  there  is  one  other  point  that  the  success  of  our  enemies  would  decide.  One 
other  paragraph  in  the  verdict  of  the  elevation  of  Greeley  would  be  to  say  that  General  Grant 
U  found  personally  unworthy  of  his  high  position.  Is  not  that  so?  Do  not  all  their  writers 
nnd  their  presses  dwell  largely,  to  the  exclusion,  I  might  say,  of  other  things,  upon  the 
!  untitness  and  personal  unworthiness  of  General  Grant?  Then  the  triumph  of  our 
opponents  would  be  the  decision  of  these  few  points. 

v,  gentlemen,  it  is  entirely  competent  and  proper  for  us,  who  have  been  soldiers,  to 
have  soldiers  rule  over  the  American  people.  We  are  not  seeking  to  inaugurate  a  civil  war, 
nnd  we  are  not  seeking  to  inaugurate  a  policy  of  hate  and  revenge;  but  we  have  come  here 
to  ask  for  those  rights  for  which  our  brothers  died,  and  that  they  shall  not  he  periled  by 
the  wiles  of  scheming  and  corrupt  politicians.  Now,  I  have  entertained  you  too  long  al- 
ready, and  we  will  proceed  to  the  deliberations  of  the  Convention. 

Three  cheers  were  proposed  for  General  Haw)ey,  and  given  with  a  will. 

CALL  OF  THE  CONVENTION. 

At  the  conclusion  of  General  Haw-ley's  address  the  call  for  the  Convention  was  read  by 
Col.  James  Corcoran,  of  Williamsport,  Pa.,  the  temporary  Secretary  of  the  Convention. 
After  the  reading  of  the  call,  Col.  L.  E.  Dudley,  Secretary  of  the  Veterans'  National  Com- 
mittee, presented  to  the  Convention  a  huge  roll  of  manuscript,  which  he  partially. unrolled. 
Col.  Dudley  was  greeted  with  cheers,  in  recognition  of  the  services  he  has  rendered  in  or- 
ganizing the  Convention.  He  spoke  as  follows : — 

REMARKS  OF  COLONEL  DUDLEY. 
COMRADES — As  Secretary  of  the  Veterans'  National  Committee,  I  desire  to  present  a 


from  reading  the  names.     [Laughter  and  applause.] 


TEMPORARY   ORGANIZATION. 

The  States  and  Territories  were  then  called,  and  each  delegation  named  one  person  to 
act  as  temporary  Vice-President  and  one  as  Secretary.  The  list,  when  completed,  was  as 
follows: — 

New  Hampshire— S.  L.  Guff,  V.  P. ;  Maj.  E.  Vaughn,  Sec. 

Massachusetts— Capt.  D.  G.  McNamara,' V.  P.;  Lieut.  O.  Chamberlain,' Sec. 

Connecticut— Lieut.  F.  M.  Welsh,  V.  P. ;  Sergt.  E.  A,  Perry,  Sec. 

New  Jersey— Col.  A.  Way,  V.  P. ;  J.  G.  Ogden,  Sec. 

Pennsylvania— Col.  Win.  McMichael,  V.  P. ;  Col.  J.  Cochrane,  Sec. 

Ohio— Capt.  P.  G.  Watmough,  V.  P. ;  A.  A.  Graham,  Sec. 

Indiana— Gen.  R.  Williams,  V.  P.;  Sergt.  A.  Sabine.  Sec. 

Iowa— Col.  H.  R.  Stewart,  V.  P. ;  J.  R.  Hammond,  Sec. 

Michigan— Gen.  W.  A.  Throop,  V.  P.  ;  Gen.  F.  M.  Swift,  Sec. 

\\  ,., .,,nsm— Capt,  H.  W.  Walbridge,  V.  P. ;  Capt.  T.  Kay,  Sec. 

Illinois— E.  J.  Rook,  V.  P. ;  Gen.  D.  E.  N.  Magee  Sec 

MiMiMippi— C.  E.  Pierce.  V.  P.;  8.  B.  Sturtevant,  Sec. 

Kansas— Mai.  J.  C.  Wilkinsham.  V.  P. :  R.  J.  Brown.  Sec. 


37 

California— Capt.  Hartmyer,  V.  P.  ;  W.  H.  Lowrie,  Sec. 

Delaware— Capt.  N.  Bayne,  V.  P. ;  Capt.  E.  C.  Stakenburg,  Sec. 

Maryland — Col.  W.  H.  'Soudermilk,  V.  P. ;  Capt.  J.  E.  Kinney,  Sec. 

Virginia— Maj.  E.  E.  White,  V.  P. ;  Maj.  C.  C.  Miller,  Sec. 

North  Carolina — Sergt.  G.  L.  Mobeon,  V.  P. 

Georgia,— Col.  G.  J.  Taggart,  V.  P. ;  Capt.  F.  Hillgart,  Sec. 

Alabama— Gen.  J.  W.  Burke,  V.  P. ;  Capt.  G.  IL  Patrick,  Sec. 

Florida— Gen.  C.  M.  Hamilton,  V.  P. 

Kentucky— Gen.  S.  N.  Price,  V.  P. ;  Col.  C.  P.  Willcox,  Sec. 

Mississippi— J.  C.  Tucker,  V.  P. ;  C.  W.  Clark,  Sec. 

Louisiana — Sergt.  C.  P.  Darreli,  V.  P. ;  "Capt.  W.  H.  Wharton,  Sec. 

Texas— Gen,  A-  G.  Maloy,  V.  P. ;  Capt.  T.  D.  Mitchell,  Sec. 

West  Virginia— Gen.  H,  Duvall,  V.  P. ;  Capt.  C.  J.  Kawlins,  Sec. 

Rhode  Island— Col.  John  McCalmut,  V.  P. ;  Gen.  K.  M.  Hoyt,  Sec. 

South  Carolina— Maj.  K.  IL  Willoughby,  V.  P. ;  Capt.  N.  K.  Reed,  Sec. 

THK  FLAG  OF  FORD'S  THEATRK. 

General  Hawley  here  arose  and  called  the  attention  of  the  Convention  to  a  large  silk 
flag  banging  from  one  of  the  upper  private  boxes,  of  which  he  said  :  "  You  will  remember, 
when  Abraham  Lincoln  was  assassinated  there  hung  above  the  stage-box  in  which  he  sat  a 
Jarge  Hag,  which  vindicated  itself  and  became  the  mean?  by  which  the  assassin  was  finally 
brought  to  merited  punishment." 

LETTER  FROM   PRESIDENT   GRAXT. 

The  following  letter  was  then  read  to  the  Convention.  When  the  Secretary  had  finished 
reading  it,  long  and.  continued  cheers  were  given  for  the  writer. 

LOSG  BRANCH,  N.  J.,  Sept.  9,  1872. 
COL,  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  Veterans1  National  Committee  : 

Dear  Sir — I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  4th  inst.,  extending  to  me,  by  your 
committee,  a  pressing  invitation  to  attend  the  grand  Mass  Convention  of  Veteran  Soldiers, 
to  be  held  in  the  city  of  Pittsburg  on  the  17th  inst. 

My  desire  to  attend,  and  meet  again  so  many  old  companions  in  arms,  ifi  very  great,  but 
my  judgment  tells  me  to  leave  the  celebration  entirely  to  those  whose  motives  cannot  be 
misunderstood.  I  know  of  no  class  of  citizens  better  entitled  to  meet  in  convention  and 
to  have  weight  accorded  to  their  views  on  all  national  matters  there  expressed,  than  the 
veteran  soldiers  who  risked  their  lives  for  the  honor  and  perpetuity  of  their  country.  I  am 
sure  your  councils  will  be  marked  by  wisdom  and  patriotism,  and  that  the  meeting  of  so 
many  comrades  will  be  a  joyous  and  an  advantageous  one.  I  wish  for  you  all  that  you 
expect  from  your  meeting  of  the  l?tb  inst.,  and  only  regret  that  I  cannot  be  with  you  OH 
that  occasion. 

With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

U.  S.  GRANT. 

At  half-past  one,  P.  M.,  tbe  Convention  adjourned,  to  meet  again  at  three  o'clock. 


AFTERNOON  SESSION. 

At  three  o'clock  General  Hawley  called  the  Convention  to  order.  A  choir,  composed 
of  one  hundred  gentlemen  and  ladies,  on  the  stage,  led  by  Prof.  William  Pope,  sang  the 
"Battle-cry  of  Freedom,"  accompanied  by  Conner's  baud,  of  New  York,  the  whole  audience 
joining  in  the  chorus.  General  Hawley,  waving  his  handkerchief,  kept  time,  and  the  inspir- 
ing strains  thrilled  every  heart  in  the  immense  audience.  At  the  close  three  loud  and  long 
cheers  were  given,  as  much  in  appreciation  of  the  music  as  in  thanks  to  the  musicians. 

During  the  interval  which  was  necessitated  by  the  correction  of  lists  of  temporary  offi- 
cers, Major  Willard  Bullard,  of  New  York,  read  the  following  letter  from  General  Daniel  E. 
Sickle*.  The  name  of  General  Sickles  was  greeted  with  the  warmest  enthusiasm,  as  also 
the  names  of  Generals  Hawley,  Burnside,  and  Logan,  who  rose  and  bowed  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  honor  done  them ;— 


S3 

LETTER  OF  GENERAL  SICKLES. 

MADRID,  Saturday,  August  24,  1872. 

COMRADES — Official  duties  far  away  from  home  pi-event  u\y  acceptance  of  the  invitation 
t<>  address  your  meeting. 

Y«>n.  who  have  sn.-tnined  by  your  vote  and  voice  the  nohle  cause  for  which  you  fought, 
have  Wen  told  you  must  congratulate  yourselves  when  you  see  the  capitulation  of  Appo- 
mattox  in  V>.>  followed  l>y  the  surrender  at  Baltimore  in  '72.  You  have  noticed  some  suspi- 
cious tactics  ahout  that  surrender.  At  the  moment  when  the  enemy  drop  their  Hag  and 
::,inpt  vimr*.  tht-v  advance  to  the  attack.  This  is  an  old  trick  often  tried  in  the  war.  The 
Democrat!  savtlu-v  have  adopted  Republican  principles  and  Republican  candidates,  but  they 
•  destroy  the  Republican  paily.  They  admire  your  camp,  hut  they  modestly  think 
,iiev  are  worthier  than  you  to  occupy  it. 

Yon  are  told  that  you  must  again  reach  across  the  bloody  chasm  and  shake  hands  with 
;':,e  oilier  nde.   You  have  done  it  already.   Everybody  is  forgiven  who  has  asked  forgiveness. 
Tin-  unrepentant  few  who  stand  out  defy  the  judgment  of  their  country  and  of  mankind. 
Let  them  wait.     Neither  honor  nor  duty  demand  more  than  has  been  magnanimously  given 
t"  those  who  contrived  the  ruin  and  disgrace  of  their  country.     Mr.  Greeley  argues  that  we 
••ii  the  doors  of  the  White  House  to  Jeff.  Davis  before  we  can  have  peace.     If  this  is 
meant  l>y  "  reconciliation,"  it  seems  to  me  that  Mr.  Greeley  and  Mr.  Sunnier  wasted 
in  residing  the  policy  of  Andrew  Johnson,  and  owe  that  persecuted  gentleman  a  pen- 
itential piL'rimasje  to  his  retreat  in  Tenif 

(Jen.  s-hur/  tells  us  (Jr.int  is  too  much  of  a  soldier  to  be  a  good  president.  Such.  lam 
persuaded,  is  not  the  public  judgment.  (Jen.  Schurz  should  study  his  logic  before  bringing 
such  an  argument  to  Republicans,  for  he  helped  to  elect  Grant  in  'tK\  Nor  can  it  have 
weight  with  Democrats,  since  they  all  supported  McClellan  in  '(>•!.  Ask  Illinois  if  Logan  is 
i  thy  of  her  trust  because  he  led  an  army  corps  in  the  West.  Ask  Wisconsin  if  Fair- 
child  failed  as  her  Governor  because  he  bore  her  flag  in  battle.  Ask  Maine  if  she  i  egrets 
tne  honors  he^towM  on  Chamberlain.  Ask  Connecticut  if  she  admires  Hawley  more  in  the 
field  than  in  council.  Ask  Rhode  Island  whether  her  chivalrous  Burnside  made  a  bad  Gov- 
ernor because  he  was  a  good  soldier. 

(.overnor  Fenton  leaves  the  Republican  party  because  he  desires  to  purifv  the  National 
tiovernment.  You  can  estimate  his  sincerity  and  success  when  you  see  that  he  has  secured 
for  liis  enterprise  the  aid  of  Tammany  Hall!  Our  people  do  not  sacrifice  their  convictions 
to  leaders,  no  matter  how  eminent.  Soldiers  will  not  desert  Grant  to  follow  Schurz  !  The 
colored  people  will  not  follow  even  Sumner  to  Jeff.  Davis  !  Reformers  will  not  follow  Fen- 
i-iii  to  Tammany  Hall  ! 

It  is  diilicult  to  understand  Mr.  Greeley's  platform  of  "reconciliation,"  which  consists 
••doniiig  his  old  friends  to  embrace  his  old  enemies.     Nor  is  it  easy  to  accept  Mr.  Sum- 
new  revelation  of  peace,  which  denounces  "a  policy  of  hate"  in  terms  of  passic 
•iimcnt  against  the  President  and  his  supporters. 


..tic  than  the  Democratic  Convention  at  Baltimore. 

Mr.  Greeley,  although  gifted  with  remarkable  talents,  is  not  fit  for  the  Presidency.     As 

a  iiieml>er  of  Congress  and  of  the  convention  called  to  amend  the  Constitution  of  New  York 

•rincipal  public  employments  he  has  filled — Mr.  Greeley  failed  to  equal  the  expecta- 

.i.'gested  by  his  success  as  a  journalist.     Powerful  as  an  agitator,  it  is  precisely  in  the 

oualiti.  J  for  the  direction  of  affaire  that  Mr.  Greeley  has  shown  no  aptitude.     A.-  a 

he  lacks  tenacity  of  purpose,  and  at  critical  moments  he  is  deficient  in  fortitude.      For 

example:  In  l-ill,  when   the  South  determined  to  fight  for  slavery,  Mr.  Greeley,  who  had 

-  much  ns  anybody  to  precipitate  the  conflict,  advised  acquiescence  when  the  rebels, 

us  in  their  hands,  demanded  separation  from  the  Union.     In  1864,  when  our  cause 

an  ever  needed  firmness  in  council  and  vigor  in  action.  Mr.  Greeley,  dismayed  and 

•y  ;he  dillicidrie>  of  the  situation,  advised — nay,  insisted,  with  all  the  authority 

thai  I  'i  ••: -ident  Lincoln  should  negotiate  with  the  enemy.     At  that  juncture 

•  e  was  like  that  given  in  the  platform  adopted  by  the  Northern  Democrats,  in  the 

.-•atiie  year,  at  ( 'hicago-  with  the  difference  that,  while  they  had  consistently  opposed  the  war 

'.•i  all  it-  -•;  -.  -.  Mi.  (iiecley  vilnated  between  impatient  demands  for  the  prosecution  of  hot*. 

Unties  ;.ud  di.-H.'oui aging  appeuU  to  accept  a  discreditable  uuuce. 


39 

And  now,  after  sustaining  all  the  reconstruction  measures  of  the  Republican  party,  after 
pressing  Congress  to  enact  laws  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  enfranchised  freednien,  he 
changes  front,  and,  adopting  the  old  State  Eights  dogma  of  the  Democratic  party,  maintains 
that  all  guaranties  for  personal  rights  must  be  sought  exclusively  in  the  State  Governments. 
To  these  indications  of  a  volatile  character,  without  adhesiveness  to  convictions,  might  be 
added  various  proofs  of  his  present  indifference  to  objects  that,  sixty  days  ago,  he  professed 
to  believe  of  prime  importance — such,  for  instance,  as  the  maintenance  of  a  protective  tariff 
and  the  ascendency  of  the  Republican  party — the  political  organization  and  the  one  measure 
ot  political  economy  with  which  he  has  been  heretofore  consistently  identified. 

These  latter  tergiversations  unhappily  coincide  with  his  nomination  for  the  Presidency 
by  a  party  which  he  had  for  many  years  opposed  with  notable  vehemence.  Whether  such 
incidents  point  to  weakness  of  purpose  or  the  temptations  of  ambition,  or  whether,  as  may  be 
more  leniently  supposed,  the  Republican  party  has  outlived  Mr.  Greeley's  liking  for  it,  are 
matters  about  which  there  is  much  speculation.  It  is  enough  to  affirm  that  Mr.  Greeley's 
attitude  as  a  candidate,  regarded  either  as  a  stratagem  to  gain  power,  or  as  a  sudden  con- 
version to  new  opinions,  shows  him  to  be  unworthy  of  the  support  of  any  Republican  and 
unworthy  of  the  confidence  of  any  Denocrat. 

The  new  institutions  of  the  Republic  are  only  safe,  while  guarded  by  the  great  party 
that  created  them.  Until  the  tardy  acquiescence  of  the  Democratic  party  in  the  letter  of 
these  enactments  shall  be  followed  by  their  voluntary  incorporation  in  the  legislation  of  the 
States  controlled  by  Mr.  Greeley's  new  friends,  it  is  impossible  to  separate  the  issues  of  the 
day  from  the  issues  of  the  war.  The  re-election  of  Gen.  Grant  is  as  essential  to  establish  the 
Government  on  the  sure  foundations  of  the  amended  Constitution,  as  the  re-election  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  We  have  given  immunity  for  the 
past — we  must  have  security  for  the  future. 

If  the  Democratic  Legislatures  of  Kentucky,  Maryland,  and  Delaware  had  passed  Mr. 
Sumner's  Ciyil  Rights  bill ;  if  the  last  Democratic  Legislature  of  New  York  had  not  endeav- 
ored impotently  to  i-ecall  the  assent  given  by  their  Republican  predecessors  to  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution ;  if  the  Democratic  members  of  the  Houdl  of  Representatives 
liad  not- refused  again  and  again  to  sanction  the  laws  passed  by  Congress  to  execute  the  late 
amendments  to  the  Federal  Constitution,  it  might  not  demand  excessive  credulity  to  believe 
the  recent  action  of  the  Baltimore  Convention  to  be  something  else  than  a  shallow  election- 
eering contrivance. 

As  it  is,  we  must  believe  that,  as  the  rebel  armies  surrendered  when  further  resistance 
was  impossible,  and  not  until  then,  so  the  Democrats  nominated  Mr.  Greeley  because  they 
had  lost  all  hope  of  defeating  Gen.  Grant  by  any  choice  they  could  make  from  their  own 
ranks.  Both  the  convention  and  the  candidate  have  exhibited  unusual  facility  of  adaptation 
to  their  new  situation.  They  unite  in  a  reciprocal  amnesty  for  the  past,  from  which  only 
Gen.  Grant  and  the  Republican  party  are  excluded.  They  pledge  an  irrevocable  fellowship 
lor  the  future,  which  depends  on  no  other  contingency  than  their  success  in  ascertaining 
•whether  the  Democrats  became  Republicans  when  they  nominated  Mr.  Greeley,  or  whether 
Mr.  Greeley  became  a  Democrat  when  he  accepted  their  nomination. 

Comrades !  you  saw  the  same  coalition  and  heard  the  same  appeals  in  18G6,  when 
President  Johnson  "  swung  around  the  circle."  Mr.  Seward  once  gave  to  a  similar  move- 
ment the  sanction  of  his  great  aame.  In  1868  Justice  Chase  was  a  candidate  for  Democratic 
favor  on  the  same  plan  of  operations.  The  most  successful  column  always  loses  a  few  strag- 
glers. The  Republican  party  survived  the  desertion  of  Johnson,  the  hostility  of  Seward,  and 
the  conversion  of  Chase.  The  campaigns  of  186(i  and  18b8  were  not  seriously  affected  by 
any  of  these  casualties,  because  the  measures  of  the  Republican  party  satisfied  the  country. 
It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  Mr.  Greeley,  Mr.  Sumner,  Mr.  Trumbull,  and  Mr.  Fentou 
exercise  the  control  over  public  opinion  which  is  claimed  for  them. 

No  Republican  can  fairly  complain  that  Gen.  Grant  has  not  adhered  faithfully  to  the 
principles  asserted  by  that  organization.  In  his  great  office  he  has  shown  judgment,  firm- 
ness, and  moderation.  Indifferent  to  the  exaggeration  and  detraction  always  heard  In  the 
discussions  of  any  excited  canvass,  the  "  sober  second  thought "  of  the  people  will  prove 
that  they  are  neither  ungrateful  nor  unjust  in  their' appreciation  of  a  great  soldier  and  a  wise 
ruler.  Grant  has  never  lost  a  battle  nor  betrayed  a  cause.  Let  us  follow  him  once  more  to 
victory !  Faithfully  yours,  , 

D.  E.  SICKLES, 
COL,  L,  E,  DUDLEY,  Secretary  Veterans'  National  Committee,.  New  Yorkt 


40 

FROM  THE  SOLDIERS'  HOME,   DAYTOX,   OHIO. 

The  following  telegram  of  greeting  was  also  read  : — 

DAYTON,  OHIO,  Sept.  17,  1872. 
GEN.  A.  E.  BURXSIDE,  National  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Convention  : 

The  Union  Soldiers  of  the  National  Asylum  send  greetings  to  their  comrades  assembled 
God  errant  you  may  have  prosperity,  unanimity,  uml  victory. 

C.  H.  FERNOLD, 
President  Grant  and  Wilson  Club,  National  Soldiers'  Home. 

LETTER  FROM   SCHUYLEU    COLFAX. 

The  followfng  letter  from  Schuyler  Colfax  was  received  with  cheers : — 

SOUTH  UI:NI>,  lxi>..  SeptemlxM-  i:>,  1-7-J. 

My  Dear  J/r.  Dudley — I  appreciate  highly  the  honor  of  your  invitation  to  the  Soldiers' 
and  Sailors'  Convention  at  Pittsburg  on  the  17th  inst.,  but  regret  that  I  cannot  IK?  present, 
having  promised  to  be  in  Northern  Michigan  with  my  family  at  that  time.  In  the  dsirk 
days,  when  the  unity  and  nationality  of  the  Republic  were  imperiled,  they  were  at  the 
perilous  front.  In  these  brighter  days  of  peace,  it  is  but  fitting  that  they  should  have  front 
Beats,  and  realize  also  the  justice  and  gratitude  of  their  countrymen. 

Yours  truly, 

SCHUYLER  COLFAX. 
To  COL.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary,  etc. 

LETTER  FROM  OEXERAL  8IGEL. 

The  following  letter  was  greeted  with  great  enthusiasm  by  the  Conven- 
tion : —  « 

NEW  YORK,  September  13,  1872. 

COL.  L.  E.  DUDLEY,  Secretary  Soldier^  and  Sailed  National  Committee  : 

Dear  Sir — Your  kind  letter  inviting  me  to  be  present  at  the  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Con- 
vention at  Pittsburg  on  the  17th  inst.,  is  received.  I  remember  with  pride  and  pleasure  the 
first  great  convention  held  in  that  same  city,  in  September,  1866,  when  resolutions  were 
passed  indorsing  the  policy  of  Congress,  and  especially  the  passage  of  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment  by  that  body.  At  that  time  there  was  no  doubt  in  our  mind  that  certain  con- 
stitutional guaranties  were  necessary  to  prevent  reaction,  define  American  citizenship,  and 
create  a  uniform  system  of  national  representation  throughout  the  Republic. 

The  work  of  the  Convention  was  g<K>d  and  noble,  but  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  only 
in  1868,  two  years  afterward,  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  was  ratified,  while  it  took  two 
years  more  (March  30,  1370)  before  the  Fifteenth  Amendment,  in  regard  to  universal  suf- 
frage, was  finally  adopted. 

There  was  one  fierce  and  continuous  political  struggle  for  more  than  five  years  after 
the  war  was  closed — in  Congress,  in  the  press,  on  the  stump,  and  in  every  nook  and  corner 
of  the  land — surpassing  in  its  earnestness  and  grandeur  even  the  great  debates  of  the  French 
Revolution,  when  the  "rights  of  man  "  were  discussed  and  declared.  Of  course,  before  the 
new  basis  of  the  future  life  of  the  Union  was  established,  there  was  not  and  could  not  be  peace 
and  harmony  between  the  North  and  South.  This,  at  least,  was  the  opinion  of  those  very 
men  who  now  go  back  on  their  own  acts  by  disavowing  as  tyrannical  and  unnecessary  the 
very  means  without  which  no  such  basis  would  exist  at  the  present  time.  If  anything  is 
absurd,  it  is  this  absurdity  of  accusing  and  defaming  the  executive  instruments  of  their  own 
Belf-divinwl  plans  and  purposes,  and  to  curse  the  children  of  their  own  love.  If  anything  is 
unjust,  it  is  the  endeavor  to  take  a  man  to  account  for  official  acts  which  were  forced  upon 
him  by  Congressional  legislation,  inasmuch  as  political  ostracism  and  military  rule  in  the 
South  after  the  war  were  neither  proposed  nor  inaugurated  by  General  Grant.  If  there  is 
treachery,  it  is  this  indirect  appeal  to  the  South  to  revolt  against  the  past  policy  of  the 
Government,  on  which  to-day  rest  the  unity,  the  security,  and  liberty  of  the  Republic! 

As  in  Mil,  so  we  are  now  again  on  the  defensive— not  against  a  formidable  enemy  in  the 
field,  but  against  a  coalition  which  we  distrust,  as  it  is  influenced  by  ambition  and  disap- 
pointment, and  tends  to  the  revival  of  questions  which  we  regarded  as  settled.  Under  the 
profession  of  reconciliation,  amnesty,  and  reform,  with  nothing  to  stand  upon  except  nicely 


41 

framed  platforms  and  pronunciamentos,  this  strange  alliance  of  Guelphs  and  Gliibellines  tries 
to  put  its  double-faced  policy  into  practice.  We  cannot  trust  mere  professions.  We  cannot  in- 
trust ourselves  to  a  house  divided  against  itself  and  built  on  sand.  We  cannot  intrust  the  most 
sacred  rights,  interests,  and  liberties  of  the  American  people  to  a  coalition  whic*«  \s  not  based 
on  real  facts  and  deeds,  and  above  all  suspicion  and  apprehension,  to  undo,  or  change,  or 
cripple  what  was  attained  by  a  terrible  struggle,  and  paid  for  by  the  best  blood  of  our 
people  and  milliards  of  dollars. 

For  these  reasons,  and  others  of  secondary  consideration,  I  cannot  be  in  favor  of  the 
Cincinnati  nominees,  but  shall  stand  with  you  on  the  side  of  Grant  and  Wilson. 

But,  while  I  am  in  their  favor,  I  hope  to_ see  in  their  election  not  a  mere  personal  or  tem- 
porary triumph.  I  hope  that  abuses,  where  they  exist,  will  be  abolished  ;  perfect  harmony 
between  the  North  and  South  restored  by  wise  measures  of  conciliation  and  material  sup- 
port ;  that  civil  service  reform  will  be  extended  and  perfected  by  recognizing  the  right  of 
the  whole  people,  without  difference  of  party,  to  be  represented  in  the  administration  of 
offices,  and  that  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  Union  will  be,  as  they  have  always  been,  the 
most  zealous  and  faithful  supporters  of  our  civil  government,  the  Constitution  and  laws  of 
the  American  Republic. 

Very  respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

F.  SIGEL. 

A  GREETING  TO  PRESIDENT   GRANT. 

A  delegate  now  moved  that  the  fifty  thousand  soldiers  here  assembled  in  Convention, 
send  a  greeting  to  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  President,  with  the  assurance  that  they  will 
give  him  their  united  support  in  November. 

The  motion  was  adopted  amid  thunders  of  applause. 

A  communication  was  then  read  from  over  seven  hundred  ex-Confederate  soldiers,  ex- 
pressing their  preference  for  General  Grant. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  reading  by  the  Secretary,  the  choir,  accompanied  by  the  band' 
struck  up  the  grand  old  battle-hymn  of  the  Republic,  "  John  Brown,"  the  whole  audienco 
rising  and  joining  in  the  chorus.  When  silence  was  secured,  General  Hartranft  was  escorted  to 
the  front  of  the  stage,  and,  in  response  to  the  wildest  and  most  unbounded  enthusiam,  said: — 

REMARKS   OF   GENERAL  HARTRANFT. 

COMRADES — I  thank  you  for  this  demonstration,  not  for  myself,  but  for  the  Republican 
cause.  [Cheers.]  It  is  no  more  credit  to  me  than,  .when  we  were  fighting  in  the  front,  and 
regiment  after  regiment  was  going  forward,  you  kept  your  eye  upon  the  colors.  [Cheers.] 
Not  upon  the  man  who  carried  them ;  because,  when  he  fell,  another  took  his  place.  So  iu 
this  contest  keep  your  eye  well  on  the  colors,  and  we  will  win  this  contest  as  we  have  ever 
done  in  the  field.  [Cheers.] 

The  enthusiasm  which  followed  General  Hartranft's  brief  remarks  was  so  unusually 
prolonged  that  General  Hawley,  the  Chairman,  after  several  endeavors,  could  only  secure 
quiet  by  the  familiar  command,  "  Attention,  battalion ! "  which  elicited  renewed  cheers  and 
laughter.  When  silence  was  secured,  General  Hawley  said : — 

The  Committee  on  Permanent  Organization  is  ready  to  report. 

REPORT  OF   COMMITTEE   ON  PERMANENT    ORGANIZATION. 

General  Baker,  of  Minnesota,  from  the  Committee  on  Permanent  Organi- 
zation, then  eaid: — 

7  . 

"In  the  absence  of  our  chairman,  General  Rutherford,  I  have  the  honor  to  report  that 
our  choice  for  Permanent  Chairman  of  this  Convention  is  General  John  A.  Logan,  of  Illinois. 
[Cheers.] 

The  action  of  the  committee  was  unanimously  ratified  by  the  Convention  rising  and 
cheering  loud  and  long. 

General  Stuart  L.  Woodford,  of  New  York,  Captain  A.  T.  Maupin,  of  Virginia,  and 


42 

Private  J.  T.  Purnell,  of  Pen.jpylvania,  were  selected  as  a  committee  to  escort  the  President- 
elect to  the  chair,  now  vacated  by  General  Hawley.  General  Logau  was  received  with 
enthusiastic  and  prolonged  cheering.  He  said  : — 

SPEECH   OF   GENERAL  LOGAN. 

FELLOW  ('<>MV:  \I>KS — I  feel  very  highly  complimented  indeed,  in  being  chosen  to  pre- 
side over  the  deliberations  of  a  body  of  men  composed  of  veterans  who  have  done  so  much 
for  their  country  sus  has  been  done  oy  yourselves,  in  connection  with  your  associates,  in  the 
late  war.  If  tliei-e  is  any  people  in  this  land  who  have  a  right  to  meet  together,  consult 
!•,  and  determine  one  with  another  as  to  the  course  they  shall  purcue  in  reference  to 
political  matters,  it  does  seem  to  me  that  the  veteran  soldiers  of  this  country  are  those  people. 
You  have  not  met  together,  my  comrades,  as  has  been  said  by  our  enemies,  for  the  purpose 
of  exciting  feelings  in  your  breast  against  those  in  opposition  to  you  politically — not  for  the 
purpose  of  making  the  breach  wider  and  wider  between  ourselves  aim  our  enemies — not  for 
the  purpose  of  causing  the  bloody  chasm,  as  it  is  denominated,  to  grow  wider  and  deeper,  but 
for  the  purpose  of  consulting  together  as  to  what  is  best  to  be  done  in  order  to  preserve  the 
trrvat  trnitti  of  your  labors,  and  the  labors  of  the  loyal  people  of  this  land.  [Prolonged 
applause.  ] 

Our  country  was  said,  prior  to  the  late  rebellion,  to  be  free — to  be  the  free  home  of  the 
people  of  all  climes  who  desire  to  reside  with  us.  But,  until  your  action  produced  certain 
results  that  were  produced  recently,  until  that  freedom  that  is  now  enjoyed  by  all  was 
lii-nii^'ht  on  by  a  strong  arm.  it  was  not  a  free  land.  But  to-day,  thank  God,  the  same  right 
that  you  have  to  meet  together  and  decide  as  to  your  course  politically,  or  to  take  some  action 
•d  to  the  affairs  of  this  great  nation — that  same  right  belongs  to  every  man,  black, 
white,  or  of  any  complexion,  or  of  any  race,  whatever  it  may  be,  who  are  or  may  be  dwelling 
within  the  confines  of  the  United  States  of  America.  [Applause.]  This  country,  then,  is  a 
free  land  to  all  men  ;  and  not  only  that,  my  countrymen  and  fellow-soldiers,  but  is  to-day 
tlie  proudest  in  every  respect.  It  presents  to-day  an  aspect  of  civilization,  of  refinement,  of 
-s.  that  is  presented  by  no  other  country  in  the  civilized  world.  This  progress  has 
been  going  on  since  I860,  when  the  power  of  the  Democratic  party  ceased,  and  the  power  of 
•  iibliraii  party  commenced — all  the  progress  since  that  time,  and  all  there  is  to  day 
thai  Drives  a  brilliancy  to  the  world,  and  all  that  which  has  been  done  by  the  people  of  this 
country — I  say  all  of  these  things  are  due  to  you  and  your  associates,  veterans,  as  the  loyal 
people  of  this  country.  [Applause.] 

Our  position,  then,  to-day,  proud  as  it  is,  is  due  to  the  Republican  party.  Certainly  no 
man  in  this  land,  no  matter  what  his  political  affiliation  may  be — there  is  no  man,  I  presume, 
but  who  is  pioud  of  the  position  we  occupy  to-day.  Our  position  as  to  relations  with  foreign 
countries,  with  every  civilized  country,  with  every  country  in  the  world,  is  one  to  be  proud  of. 
This  proud  position  has  been  given  us  by  the  wise  statesmanship  and  the  qualities  belonging 
to  the  men  who  are  at  the  head  of  the  party  known  as  the  Republican  party  in  this  land^ 
[Applause.]  It  is  due  to  the  men  now  holding  the  most  responsible  positions  in  the  country. 

I  did  not  i-  '••<rl.  nor  do  I  now  intend,  to  detain  you  [cries  of  "Go  on,"  "Go  on"]  in 

making  a  po  itical  sp  veh  of  any  length,  for  your  work  is  already  accomplished.     In  calling 

me  to  the  chai.  in  o.der  to  preside  over  this  vast  assembly,  you  only  intend  me  to  preside 

ur  delii,,  ..itions.     I  repeat  here,  your  work  is  done,  but  your  speech-making  and 

resolution*  will  soon  follow. 

I  desire  to  cull  the  attention  of  the  veterans  of  this  country  to  the  condition  of  things  to- 
day |H>liticully.  without  denouncing  our  enemies,  which  we  have  no  desire  to  do.  We  have 
u  triend  at  the  head  of  the  Republican  party — the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America — 
U.  8.  Grant,  as  our  candidate  and  our  standard-bearer.  Associated  with  him  is  Henry  Wil- 
M'n,  of  Ma.*8achusetto  [tremendous  applause] — a  statesman  and  an  honest  inan  in  every 
•f  the  word.  Since  the  time  of  General  Washington  and  Andrew  Jackson,  no  men 
ver  been  so  elan  'ered,  so  violently  abused,  as  have  these  men — especially  General 
<irunt.*  I  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  when  Washington  was  President  of  the 
Tinted  States,  after  a  severe  struggle  of  seven  years,  at  the  head  of  a  little  army — after 
!,e  had  triven  Viliertv  to  this  laud — after  the  people  of  this  land  appreciated  him  as  a 
great  statesman  and  civilian,  they  made  him  President  of  the  United  States.  After  lie 
Jiad  bwn  1'ivMdent  for  nearly  toiu-  y ^n-w.  and  when  he  was  a  candidate  for  re-election, 
i-i.me  men  there  were  who  attacked  and  maliirned  him  in  the  same  manner  as  men  to-day 
alauder  our  President.  Coming  down  to  Andrew  Jackson,  who  was  and  is  one  of  the 


43 

greatest  heroes  of  this  land,  when  he  had  been  President  nearly  tour  years,  and  was  again 
placed  in  nomination  for  re-election  by  a  grateful  people,  a  conspiracy  was  organized  in 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  his  reputation  and  preventing 
his  re-election.  They  even  entered  the  sacred  precincts  of  the  family  altar.  The  people 
of  this  country  listened  for  a  time  to  these  slanders — the  most  vile  and  shameless,  but 
after  a  while  they  said  :  "  We  know  Jackson.  We  know  that  he  is  an  honest  man,  and  know 
that  he  is  capable  of  holding  the  high  office  he  now  occupies."  So  it  was,  my  countrymen, 
with  Jackson,  the  old  hero.  But  after  these  slanders  had  been  hurled  at  him  for  a  time,  the 
people,  at  the  polls,  recognized  the  work  of  that  purest  of  men,  and  said,  "Again  we  will  make 
him  President  of  the  United  States  ; "  and  his  defamers  to-day  lie  cold  and  silent,  and  never  a 
name  of  one  of  them  is  mentioned.  The  peeple  will  always  take  the  man  by  the  hand  who 
is  assailed  unfairly  and  dishonestly,  as  has  been  the  case  with  the  present  President  of  the 
United  States. 

My  fellow-soldiers,  let  me  say  this,  that  Grant  will  be  elected  President  of  the  United 
States  for  four  years  more.  [Prolonged  applause.]  This  event  will  certainly  occur. 
When  lie  passes  away  from  this  earth,  when  he  is  lying  in  the  cold  and  silent  tomb,  he  will 
live  not  only  in  the  memory  of  soldiers,  but  in  the  history  of  the  United  States,  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  and  he  will  be  recognized  as  one  of  the  greatest  sages  that  has  ever  lived  in 
this  land ;  and,  my  fellow-countrymen,  when  the  5th  of  November  rolls  around,  and  the 
votes  are  again  counted,  if  you  will  pass  along  the  by-ways,  alleys,  streets,  and  avenues  of 
our  cities,  you  will  find  the  carcasses  of  the  political  hucksters  of  this  land.  [Applause.] 
Carl  Schurz  was  a  soldier — I  always  call  a  man  a  soldier  that  wore  the  United  States 
uniform ;  but,  as  to  the  other  part,  whether  he  was  a  good  soldier  or  not,  I  am  not  his 
historian,  and,  therefore,  will  not  judge.  I  refer  his  story  to  Greeley,  who  gave  him  a 
character  upon  which  you  can  inform  yourself  at  your  leisure.  When  I  speak  of  him  I 
connect  him  with  Trumbull,  Tipton,  and  Sumner.  I  have  nothing  to  say  here  to  depreciate 
the  ability  of  all  of  these  men. 

But  I  will  say  this,  that  they  concluded,  when  Grant  was  made  President  of  the  United 
States,  on  account  of  their  great  learning,  that  they  must  control  this  administration.  But 
when  they  went  to  Gen.  Grant  and  said,  "  This  must  be  done,  your  cabinet  must  be  so,  this 
thing  must  be  done  this  way,"  Grant  replied,  saying,  "  Gentlemen,  I  am  President  of  the 
United  States."  [Applause.]  They  found  that  Grant  would  select  his  own  cabinet,  that 
Grant  would  do  his  own  thinking,  that  he  had  commanded  armies,  and  Grant  was  therefore 
able  to  attend  to  the  duties  of  his  office  too ;  that  he  understood  why  he  was  placed  in  that 
position  ;  when  he  desired  their  council,  he  would  ask  it.  Because  they  could  not  use  him, 
they  resolved  that  they  would  destroy  him,  and  to  destroy  him  they  would  destroy  the 
Republican  party.  In  destroying  the  Republican  party  they  would  destroy,  in  my  judgment, 
the  peace  of  mankind.  Inside  the  Republican  party  lives  and  dwells  the  peace  and  happiness 
of  the  people  of  this  land,  the  hope  of  freedom,  the  hope  of  liberty,  of  prosperity,  of  progress, 
and  of  everything  that  makes  the  country.  It  was  well  said  by  Frederick  Douglass,  the 
colored  orator,  that  "  The  Republican  party  is  the  old  ship  ;  in  it  there  is  life  ;  outside,  all 
is  sea  and  all  is  death."  Now  these  men  conspire  against  Grant,  conspire  against  the  peace, 
and  happiness,  and  prosperity  of  this  country. 

I  am  sorry  that  I  am  compelled  to-day  to  say  that  some  of  these  men  occupy  a  humili- 
ating position.  Schurz  boasted  that  he  could  control  the  Germans  of  this  country.  In 
order  to  alienate  the  Germans  from  the  present  administration,  he  contends  that  there  was 
something  wrong  in  the  sale  of  arms  to  France  ;  but  his  statements  were  proven  to  be  untruth- 
ful, and  what  influence  does  he  now  exert  among  the  Germans?  Charles  Sumner,  who  is 
from  the  glorious  State  of  Massachusetts,  thought  he  could  control  the  colored  men  of  this 
laud ;  and  these  two  men  thought,  by  controlling  these  two  great  peoples,  they  could  control 
the  President  of  the  United  States.  But  neither  of  them  have  succeeded  in  getting  control 
of  either  of  these  respective  parties.  Sumner  did  not  write  to  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  but  he  wrote  to  the  colored  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  to  his  shame  be  it  said 
— I  am  sorry  that  I  can  say  it  to-day — he  was  not  able,  with  all  his  eloquence  and  the  great 
name  that  he  has  had  for  many  years,  even  to  control  the  veriest  boot-black  that  belonged  to 
the  colored  race.  [Applause  J  It  only  shows  how  great  men  really  fail  occasionally.  He 
went  home  to  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  who  stand  a  solid  column  in  favor  of  Grant,  and 
that  true,  honest  man,  Henry  Wilson,  from  their  own  State— not  having  been  led  astray  by 
Sumner.  So  far  as  this  mercenary  man  from  St.  Louis,  Carl  Schurz,  is  concerned,  he  never 
uttered  a  sentiment  for  Grant  unless  he  was  paid  for  it,  and  he  signally  failed  to  control  the 
German  voters  of  this  country.  He  has  failed  as  signally  as  has  Sumner  with  the  colored  voters. 


44 

r,  fellow-soldiers  of  Pennsylvania,  let  me  say  but  one  word  for  you.  You  have  to- 
day as  gallant  a  man  before  you,  as  your  candidate  for  Governor,  as  ever  bore  the  standard  of 
this  land.  [Deafening  applause.]  He  has  been  assailed  in  the  newspapers  and  on  the 
^tump,  for  what  purpose?  For  the  same  purpose  that  they  assailed  Gen.  Grant  and  Henry 
Wilson,  and  almost  every  leading  man  in  the  Republican  party.  By  assailing  Gen.  Hart- 
r.mft,  they  intend  to  carry  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  in  your  October  election  against  the  Re- 
publican party,  and  by  carrying  it  against  the  Republican  party  they  expect  to  dampen  the 
ardor  of  Republicanism  everywhere,  and  in  that  way  gain  a  victory  in  the  November  contest. 
It  was  intended  for  that,  and  for  no  other  purpose.  I  was.  induced  to  believe,  and  I  do  be- 
lieve to-day,  that  men  claiming  to  be  Republicans,  who  persistently  attack  Hartranft,  do  so 
for  the  sake  of  assisting  to  make  Greeley  President  of  the  United  States. 

Then  let  me  say  to  you,  when  you  leave  this  city,  where  you  have  received  such  a  hearty 
welcome,  where  everything  possible  has  been  done  for  you,  where  the  people  here  show  that 
they  feel  that  this  meeting  is  for  the  good  of  the  country,  where  they  say  in  every  possible 
way  they  can  that  their  hearts  grow  great  because  of  Republican  institutions — when  you 
go  to  your  homes,  go  with  your  hearts  full  of  patriotism,  and  let  it  be  known  that  the  people 
everywhere  are  in  favor  of  your  candidate  in  Pennsylvania.  Ah  !  Pennsylvania  has  always 
been  called  the  Keystone  State.  I  feel  confident  that  the  Republicans  will  carry  this  State. 
Then  let  us  hear  from  old  Pennsylvania  the  same  old  ringing  Republican  notes  that  we  have 
ever  heard,  and  we  will  send  back  from  Illinois,  Iowa,  Kansas,  and  other  States,  the  welcome 
news  of  Republican  triumph.  You  will  hear  such  a  return  from  us  as  will  make  you  happy. 
[Applause.] 

Fellow-soldiers,  I  have  said  more  than  I  intended  to  say.  [Cries  of  "Go  on."]  My  fel- 
low-soldiers, I  would  have  gone  on  merely  to  interest  you  a  few  hours  longer  [laughter], 
but  I  find  there  is  one  here  that  you  much  more  desire  to  hear  than  you  do  me — a  greater 
man  and  a  better  man,  and  one  that  you  and  I  are  working  for.  As  soon  as  the  report  on 
Permanent  Organization  is  read,  you  will  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  the  great  statesman 
from  the  State  of  Massachusetts.  I  thank  you  for  the  compliment  you  have  bestowed  upon 
me.  [Applause.] 

On  the  conclusion  of  General  Logan's  remarks,  Senator  Wilson  was  loudly  called  for. 
The  Senator  was  received  with  cheer  upon  cheer,  the  whole  audience  rising  to  their  feet. 
(•••M.  Logan,  in  introducing  him,  said:  "I  have  the  honor  of  introducing  to  you  that  distin- 
guished Christian  statesman,  the  Hon.  Henry  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts,  the  next  Vice-Pres- 
i  lent  of  the  United  States."  Senator  Wilson  spoke  as  follows : — 

SPEECH  OF  SENATOR  WILSOX. 

Be  assured,  gentlemen,  that  I  am  glad  to  look  into  your  faces  to-day,  and  I  am  grateful 
to  you  for  your  generous  welcome.  I  am  glad  to  see  this  representative  assemblage  of  brave 
ineit  who  saved  my  country  on  the  battle-field.  I  know  something  of  the  origin  of  the  great 
civil  war.  I  know  something  of  the  self-sacrificing  patriotism  of 'the  men  who  left  hoinrs, 
fathers,  mothers,  sisters,  brother*,  wives,  and  children,  and  bared  their  bosoms  against  the 
Mows  of  the  enemy  of  the  country.  I  know  that  they  were  never  inspired  by  hate,  but  by 
love  of  country  and  love  of  liberty  ;  and  history  will  record  the  grand  fact  that  the  great  up- 
rising of  the  country  in  the  spring  of  18G1  was  an  uprising  of  patriots,  and  not  an  uprising 
lor  hate  or  for  vengeance.  You  loved  your  country,  and  your  whole  country.  You  loved 
ilie  peopU*  of  the  country,  and  the  people  of  the  whole  country;  and  through  those  fouryears 
nt'  Mood  you  labored  on — struggled  in  victory  and  defeat  alike — inspired  by  lofty  patriotism, 
and  never  guided  by  vengeance ;  and  to-day  we  meet  here  to  do  something  more  to  perpetu- 
ate \\  hat  you  won  on  the  battle-field,  and  that,  too,  for  your  country,  and  for  the  aggrandizement 
ot  no  set  of  men  on  earth,  (.entlemen,  it  was  my  privilege  during  those  four  years  of  Moody 
•'i  act  as  Chairman  of  the  Military  Committee  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and 
I  am  proud  to  say  to-day  that  in  all  the  legislation  of  Congress,  in  all  the  confirmations 
<-t  the  many  thousand*  that  came  before  us,  we  always  endeavored  to  do  justice  to  the  brave, 
men  who  were  lighting  for  the  country,  and  we  never  asked  the  question  what  their  poliiie:d 
w-ntinu-uts  were.  1  know  something  of  the  self-sacrificing  men  that  went  to  the  (ield, 
fought,  Wed,  and  many  of  them  died  to  save  the  country;  and,  gentlemen,  while  I  would 
perpetuate  no  feeling  oHiate— while  I  would  be  generous,  magnanimous  and  loving  to  all  por- 
tions of  my  country.  Clod  willing.  I  would  never  forget  the  Belf-aacrificing  patriotism,  heroic; 
valor,  and  consecrated  devotion  of  the  men  who  fought  to  save  the  country.  [Applause],  I 


45 

would  build  monuments  all  over  the  land  for  those  who  died  for  their  country.  [Applause.] 
I  would  keep  the  battles  on  the  sacred  flags  that  were  laid  away.  I  would,  if  I  had  the  power, 
write  the  grand  deeds  of  the  defenders  of  the  Union  in  letters  of  living  light  on  the  broad  arches 
of  the  skies,  so  that  all  men,  as  they  look  heavenward,  might  be  inspired  by  their  noble 
example.  [Applause.]  You  come  here  to-day,  gentlemen,  to  encourage  your  countrymen 
who  are  striving  to  carry  out  in  the  action  of  the  country  what  you  fought  to  establish.  May 
God  prosper  and  bless  you  in  these  efforts,  and  I  am  sure  your  words,  your  example  and 
your  courage  will  inspire  our  countrymen,  and  we  shall  win  a  glorious  victory  for  the  cause 
of  the  great  party  to  which  we  belong  and  which  we  believe  to  be  the  party  of  patriotism  and 
the  party  of  liberty  in  America.  [Loud  applause.]  Gentlemen,  in  the  dark  and  troubled 
night  of  war,  when  you  were  struggling  in  front  of  rebel  legions,  when  our  hospitals  were 
filled  with  sick,  wounded,  and  dying  men,  we  could  take  your  cause  and  our  cause  into  our 
closets,  and,  on  our  bended  knees,  invoke  God's  blessing  upon  you.  Hundreds  of  thousands 
of  your  countrymen  did  it — noble  men  and  noble  women  did  it ;  and  to-day,  gentlemen,  we 
are  fighting  for  the  same  cause ;  and  the  same  ideas  are  on  our  banners  to-day,  and  we  can 
ask  the  support  of  the  good  men  of  our  own  country,  the  sympathies  of  loving  men  the  wide 
world  over,  and  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God  upon  our  labor.  Gentlemen,  I  will  detain  you 
no  longer.  I  thank  you  a  thousand  times  for  this' great  assemblage  here,  and  I  thank  you 
for  your  kind  reception.  God  bless  you  all !  [Applause.] 

THE  PERMANENT  OFFICERS. 

General  Allen  Rutherford,  on  behalf  of  the  Committee  on  Permanent  Organization,  then 
submitted  the  following  list  of  the  Vice- Presidents  and  Secretaries  chosen  to  represent  the  sev- 
eral States  and  Territories  : — 

Massachusetts — Vice-Presidents,  James  H.  Barnes  and  Col.  C.  G.  Attwood ;  Secretaries, 
Gen.  Joseph  F.  Pickett,  Capt.  G.  S.  Merrill. 

Ohio  Vice-Presidents,  Gen.  G.  M.  Barber  and  Gen.  P.  S.  Slevin ;  Secretaries,  Col.  W. 
F.  Hinman  and  Capt.  M.  Blanchard. 

New  Jersey — Vice-Presidents,  Col.  Wm.  Ward  and  Col.  J.  Madison  Drake ;  Secretaries, 
Maj.  J.  B.  Brose.  L.  C.  Rice. 

Wisconsin — Gen.  L.  Fairchild,  Sergeant  P.  Stackhouse ;  Secretaries,  Maj.  W.  H.  Plun- 
kett,  Capt.  E.  M.  Truell. 

Georgia — Capt.  C.  H.  Townsend,  Capt.  A.  B.  Clark ;  Secretaries,  Sergeant  George  H. 
Stone,  Sergeant  W.  H.  Thomas. 

Michigan — Maj.  S.  E.  Graves,  Gen.  W.  A.  Throop;  Secretaries,  A.  M.  Edwards,  Gen. 
F.  L.  Swift. 

New  Hampshire — Gen.  S.  G.  Griffin,  Gen.  W.  Harriman ;  Secretaries,  Gen.  H.  B.  Titus, 
Maj.  Ed.  Vaughan. 

Rhode  Island — Vice-Presidents,  Gen.  Nathan  Goff,  Capt.  T.  F.  Usher ;  Secretaries,  Sur- 
geon Howard  King,  Sergeant  R.  F.  Nicoli. 

Connecticut — Col.  C.  L.  Upham,  Gen.  H.  W.  Wessells ;  Secretaries,  Adjt.  C.  A.  Jewell, 
Maj.  S.  J.  Corey. 

New  York — Gen.  James  Jourdan,  Gen.  W.  S.  Hillyer ;  Secretaries,  Sergt.-Maj.  S.  Wil- 
liams, Col.  A.  P.  Ketchum. 

Pennsylvania — Gen.  J.  T.  Owens,  Gen.  J.  B.  Sweitzer;  Secretaries,  Col.  A.  M.  Jones, 
Gen.  H.  H.  Bingham. 

Illinois — Gen.  J.  C.  Smith,  Col.  Owen  Stewart ;  Secretaries,  Capt.  T.  E.  Lonergan  and 
Capt.  T.  E.  Sherman. 

Delaware—  Lieut.  James  Lewis,  Lieut.  A.  Vandever ;  Secretaries,  Capt.  E.  C.  Shortzen- 
berg  and  James  H.  A.  Myers. 

Maryland — Maj.  Geo.  T.  Cassell,  Col.  H.  Adreon ;  Secretaries,  J.  R.  King  and  Capt. 
R.  Gross. 

Iowa — Gen.  E.  W.  Rice,  Col.  G.  A.  Stewart ;  Secretaries,  Col.  R.  M.  Littler  and  Capt. 
J.  McElroy. 

Virginia— Maj.  E.  E.  White,  Capt.  W.  A.  McNulty ;  Secretaries,  Capt.  B.  C.  Cook 
and  William  J.  Johnston. 

West  Virginia— Gen.  B.  F.  Kelley,  Gen.  T.  M.  Harris ;  Secretaries,  Maj.  M.  B.  C. 
Wright  and  Capt.  B.  B.  Dovener. 

North  Carolina — Gen.  Allen  Rutherford,  Sergeant  G.  D.  Watson ;  Secretaries,  Maj.  J. 
W.  Schenk  and  Capt.  E.  M.  Shoemaker. 


40 

-r_Gen.  W.  T.  Clark  and  Gen.  James  Davidson;  Secretaries,  Capt.  J.  E.  Whittle- 
sey  and  Capt.  T.  rinu. 

Minn'.H't'i— (Jen.  .1.  H.  linker,  C.  A.  Drew. 

/     .,,.<3(c — C'ol.  W.  F.  lYosser,  Col.  13.  Lewis;  Secretaries,  Capt.  A.  J.  Ricks,  Col.  D. 
W.  Glassie. 

>,icl-y — Gen.  A.  P.  Hall,  Gen.  S.  W.  Price;  Secretaries,  Gen.  C.  I'.  Wilcox,  Capt. 

J.  D.  Eaton.' 

M''M»uri — Col.  J.  B.  Jones,  Capt.  G.  W.  Cooper;  Secretaries,  Col.  J.  A.  Joyce,  Capt. 
R.  E.  Brim. 

Louisiana — Col.  Chas.  W.  Lowell,  Lieut.  W.  H.  Webster;  Secretaries,  Capt.  F.  Alorley, 
Lieut.  Oscar  A.  Rice. 

•  iulppi — Capt.  J.  C.  Tucker,  Col.  A.Warner;  Secretaries,  Capt.  C.  W.  Clark, 
M:ij.  O.  C.  French. 

ri»rlda — Gen.  H.  Jenkins,  Capt. A.  A.  Knight;  Secretaries,  Capt.  E.  M.  Cheney,  Capt. 
D.  Eagan. 

Colorado— Col.  J.  M.  Hall,  Gen.  D.  L.  Smith;  Secretaries,  Col.  J.  D.  Wells  and  E.  W. 
Stanton. 

Montana — Gen.  W.  F.  Scribner,  Gen  John  C.  Blane 

/—Lieut.  W.  H.  Lowrie,  Capt.  Hartmier;  Secretaries,  J.   Mason  Kline,  Col. 
Robert  M.  Lee. 

l>ix(rirt'of  Columbia — Col.  Hermann  Seligson  and  A.  A.  Shisslar;  Secretaries,  Geo.  J. 
Bond,  .).  W.  Jordan,  U.  S.  Navy. 

Utah— Gen.  G.  B.  Maxwell]  Col.  Win  M.  Johnsj  Secretaries,  Capt,  T.  H.  Bates,  E.  B. 
Zabr'mkie  and  Maj.  A.  K.  Smith. 

•'<  (''irolina — Vice-Presidents,  Capt.  J.  L.  Little.  Lieut.  Chas.  Sammis;  Secret 
Gen.  Wm.  Gurney.  Maj.  T.  D.  Corbin. 

•'  .;//<  — Vice-1'ivsidents,  Geu.  R.  N.  Healy,  Gen.  Geo.  H.  Patrick;  Secretaries,  Col. 
C.  Cadle,  Col.  T.  Kinsman. 

General  James  A.  Garfield,  appearing  upon  the  stage,  was  loudly  called  ibr, 
and,  being  introduced  by  the  Chairman,  spoke  as  follows : — 

SPEECH   OF   GEXERAL  GARFIELD. 

I'ri.LOW-SOLDlERS — I  know  I  shall  speak  the  sentiments  of  every  man  in  this  audienr  > 
when  1  say  that  whatever  pride  we  have  in  the  past,  whatever  pride  we  brought  back  from 
the  battle-fields,  we  joyfully  laid  that  pride  and  glory  upon  one  altar,  and  art;  all  glad  to 
merge  the  title  of  soldiers  in  a  greater  one — that  of  American  citizen.  We  recognize  that  as 
the  highest  title.  Fighting  or  laboring,  living  or  dyinir.it  is  as  citizens  of  the  Republic; 
American  citizenship  is  the  unit,  which,  being  repeated  l>y  the  number  of  our  population, 
makes  the  nation  and  its  glory.  American  citizenship  is  the  grand  level  from  which  all  our 
heights  and  depths  of  political  life  are  measured.  For  my  part.  I  preferred  that  this  shouM 
l)i-  our  only  measure  of  political  questions.  It  was  my  hope  when  the  war  ended  that  wo 
nfight  meet  only  socially,  to  renew  the  friendships  and  memories  of  the  past,  and  that  no 
word  of  political  discord  should  be  heard  in  a  soldier  gathering.  But  now,  for  the  first 
time,  our  right  to  mingle  in  the  political  contests  of  the.  day  is  challenged,  if  not  denied.  We 
are  here  to  answer  that  challenge.  We  are  told  that  the'  time  of  the  soldier  in  politics  is 

•  •'•ause  his  presence  reminds  some  ( f  our  fellow-citizens  of  defeat.     We  are  here  to 

•  1  to  this  impertinent  assumption.     \Ve  never  asked  the  twenty-two  rebel   officers  to 
who  to-day  hold  seats  in  the  American  Congress.     They  are  there  in  their  higher 

•f  American  citizenship,  and  no  man  says  them  nay  for  sitting  in  their  places ;  and 
Khali  the  fifty  Union  soldiers  who  are  sitting  in'the  Senate"  and  House,  retiie  because  they 
-  -Idiersf  [Cii.-s  of  "No!  no!"]  A  great  Senator  said,  and  published  it  to  the  people, 
that  a  soldier  in  the  Executive  Chair  is  a  menace.  He  says  our  victories  over  rebellion 
"should  not  be  inscribed  on  regimental  colors,"  and  that  the  presence  in  the  Executive  Chair 
of  our  leader  in  the  late  war  is  "a  regimental  color  with  a  forbidden  inscription,"  and  should 
be  kept  there  no  longer.  We  are  here  to-day  to  say  that  if  General  Grant  is  a  banner — he 
is  our  banner— the  banner  of  the  Republic— inscribed  with  the  record  of  our  great  national 
victories.  They  ask  us  to  haul  dowu  that  color,  to  strike  on.-  banner.  That  banner  we  will 

ike.  [Cri.-s  of  "  Never  !  nevoi  ! "]  They  may  apply  to  General  Grant  all  the  tests 
imd  criticisms  of  political  life  ;  but,  when  they  strike  him  because  he  was  a  soldier,  we  will 
rally  round  him  again  and  repel  the  ignoble  and  unpatriotic  assault.  They  say  he  must  be 


47 

put  asidf,  a=  an  obstacle  to  reconciliation  r.nd  peace  with  the  South.  I  repel  this  as  a  wicked 
slander,  Mgainft  not  only  General  Grant,  but  against  all  who  fought  under  his  leadership. 
It  is  because  of  these  assaults,  that  here  to-day,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  I  invoke  the 
soldier-associations  into  the  political  contest.  There  is  not  a  grave  in  Avhich  a  soldier  sleeps 
ir.  all  this  redeemed  land  but  will  be  desecrated  by  this  great  slander.  There  is  not  a  monu- 
ment that  points  to  God  anywhere  on  the  soil  of  the  Republic  that  ought  not  to  be  demol- 
ished and  ground  to  the  earth,  if  for  such  a  reason  it  is  time  for  the  soldier  to  retire.  There 
is  not  a  banner  upon  which  your  victories  are  inscribed,  that  ought  not  to  be  burned  if  the 
time  has  come  for  the  soldier  to  retire.  Thank  God,  the  old  banners  are  here!  [Great  ap- 
plause.] The  voice  of  battle  is  in  you.  [Applause.]  And  in  your  name  1  answer  the 
slander  of  our  defamers,  that  more  noble,  "magnanimous,  and  gentle-hearted  men  never 
lived  than  the  men  who  fought,  bled,  and  died  in  defense  of  the  Union  during  our  late 
war.  In  the  war  there  were  four  classes  of  men.  The  first  were  our  comrades  who  shared 
with  us  the  perils  and  glory  of  battle.  We  shall  love  those  living  and  sacredly  clier'rsh  the 
memories  of  those  who  are  dead.  Another  class  were  our  gallant  foes.  We  fought  and 
conquered  them,  and  then  treated  them  with  the  honors  of  war.  There  were  two  other 
classes  ;  the  deserter  from  our  banner — we  shot  him ;  the  spy  from  the  enemy's  camp — we 
hanged  him.  The  same  classes  appear  in  the  pending  political  struggle.  I  do  not  say  that 
our  political  eremies  to-day  are  all  deserters  and  spies;  but  I  do  say  that  in  the  mixed 
political  army  that  to-day  confronts  us,  and  which  has  the  hardihood  to  call  itself  the 
party  of  reiorm,  are  found  all  the  deserters  from  our  camp,  and  all  the  scouts  and  intriguers 
of  our  old  political  enemies.  Against  these  deserters  and  spies  we  throw  the  weight 
of  our  whole  line.  [Applause.]  I  did  not  come  here  to  speak  to  you  to-day.  [Cries  of 
"  Go  on ! "]  I  came  to  welcome  you,  and  to  join  you  in  declaring  once  more,  that  we 
fire  here  to  maintain  the  great  principles  for  which  we  fought.  Remember  that  after  the  bat- 
tle of  armies  comes  the  battle  of  history.  Whose  ideas  shall  prevail  in  that  new  conflict? 
Our  war  was  a  mistake,  a  fearful  failure,  if  we  do  not  also  conquer  there.  Until  the  ideas 
for  which  we  contended  are  crystallized  into  the  enduring  forms  of  national  life,  we  are  not 
ready  to  ret:ve.  We  are  not  ready  to  retire  until  the  great  principles  for  which  we  fought 
are  lifted  up  into  the  serene  firmament  of  our  national  heaven,  there  to  blaze  for  ever  and 
ever.  [Applause.] 

SPEECH  OF   GENERAL  8.   G.   GRIFFIN. 

General  S.  G.  Griffin,  of  New  Hampshire,  being  called  for,  came  forward 
and  said : — 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  COMRADES — I  thank  you  for  the  honor  you  have  conferred 
upon  me,  and  for  the  opportunity  thus  offered  me  to  say  a  word  in  favor  of  the  cause  which 
has  brought  us  here  to-day. 

A  great  contest  is  impending,  differing,  it  is  true,  from  that  which  led  us  to  the  field  in 
1861,  but  scarcely  less  important  than  that.  We  are  in  a  great  presidential  contest,  and  the 
battle-ground  of  that  contest  is  to  be  here  in  Pennsylvania.  Elect  our  gallant  comrade, 
John  F.  Hartranft,  Governor  of  this  State,  and  the  election  of  General  Grant  is  assured. 
Elect  Hartranft,  and  we  will  give  Grant  five  thousand  majority  in  New  Hampshire,  and  we 
will  carry  Connecticut,  Indiana,  and  New  York  in  November. 

Defeat  Hartranft,  and  every  one  of  those  States  is  left  in  doubt,  as  will  also  be  the  elec- 
tion of  General  Grant.  We  have  rallied  here  from  New  Hampshire,  from  Maine,  from 
Wisconsin,  from  Dakota,  from  California,  from  every  one  of  the  thirty-seven  States  in  be- 
half of  the  cause  of  the  Union,  and  of  right  government,  as  we  did  in  1861. 

The  great  question  for  us  to  decide  is  whether  we  shall  continue  in  power  that  party 
which  has  been  on  the  right  side  of  every  question  every  time  and  all  the  time  for  the  last 
fifteen  years,  and  which,  by  the  wisdom  of  its  policy  and  measures,  in  spite  of  the  incubus  of 
an  enormous  debt  and  all  the  drawbacks  incident  to  a  great  civil  war  so  recently  waged, 
lias  given  the  country  a  prosperity  that  is  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  nations,  or  whether 
we  will  abandon  that  party  and  put  in  its  place  a  party  that  has  been  on  the  wrong  side  of 
every  question  every  time  and  all  the  time  for  the  last  'ten  or  fifteen  years,  and  which  has 
opposed  every  one  of  those  great  and  beneficent  measures  which  have  brought  the  nation 
up  to  the  proud  position  it  occupies  to-day. 

Whether  we  will  stand  by  that  party  which  carried  the  Republic  so  gloriously  through 
n  .qrigantic  rebellion,  and  has  gjiven  it  a  career  of  honor  and  success  and  renown  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  and  that  is  still  bearing  it  onward  on  the  grand  platform  of  "freedom 
for  all  men  "  and  the  "  rights  of  citizenship  for  all  men,"  or  whether  we  will  turn  our  backs 


48 

upon  that  partv  and  put  in  its  place  one  whose  leaders  inaugurated  and  carried  on  that 
rebellion,  and  attempted  to  destroy  this  republic — a  party  whose  great  and  loading  prin- 
ciple lias  been  the  support,  the  extension,  and  the  perpetuation  of  human  slavery— a  party 
which  has  acted  as  the  champion  of  slave  in  opposition  to  free  lahor;  whether  we  will  con- 
tinue in  power  that  party  which  has  made  for  itself  the  most  t-l.n-ious  record  ever  made  hy 
anv  pany  in  any  nation  under  heaven,  and  that  is  still  marching  on  in  that  same  grandly 
progressive  course,  or  whether  we  will  repudiate  that  party,  and  place  in  power  a  party 
which  has  heen  ei  impelled  to  abandon  every  one  of  its  principles,  every  one  of  its  positions, 
everv  one  of  its  measures,  and  come  over  and  adopt  our  principles,  our  platform,  and  even  to 
•  •nlist  the  disappointed  aspirants  for  place  in  our  party,  and  adopt  them  as  their  leaders. 
Whether  we  \\ill  stand  hy  that  party  which  has  mad'e  for  itself  a  financial  record  that 
challenges  the  admiration  of  the  world,  that  has  reduced  taxation,  that  has  paid  one-eighth 
of  our  whole  national  war-debt  within  the  last  three  years,  and  at  the  same  time  has  given 
tin-  country  it-  present  wondeiful  prosperity,  or  whether  we  will  place  in  power  that  party 
which  is  pledged  to  pay  pensions  and  bounties  to  rebel  soldiers,  pay  for  the  emancipated 
-laves,  pay  the  claims  of  rebels  for  property  destroyed  during  the  war,  and  pay  the  rebel 
war-debt. 

My  comrades,  we  remember  at  the  close  of  the  war  in  1805,  how  earnest  and  how  uni- 
versal was  the  expression  of  gratitude  to  the  soldiers  for  the  services  they  had  performed  ; 
how  frequently  we  heard  the  expression  that  there  was  "one  debt  which  this  nation  never 
could  repay,  and  that  was  the  debt  of  gratitude  it  owed  the  soldiers  who  had  preserved  the 
I'nion."  That  was  at  that  time  the  honest  expression  of  the  opinions  and  feelings  of  the 
patriotic  people  of  the  country. 

Has  the  nation  so  soon  forgotten  that  debt  of  gratitude?  Are  we  about  to  turn  our 
backs  upon  that  man  who,  when  the  nation  was  plunged  into  a  civil  war,  volunteered  his 
services  and  pledged  his  life  to  the  Government;  and,  when  leader  after  leader  had  attempted 
the  QotDBMBd  of  our  armies  and  failed,  and  all  looked  dark  and  discouraging,  and  the  army 
and  the  jtcople  were  disheartened  and  demoralized,  rose  up  from  obscurity  step  by  step  \>y 
his  own  merits,  without  political  influence,  until  he  was  placed  in  command  of  all  the  armies 
of  these  I'niteil  States,  and  hy  his  powerful  intellect,  his  military  genius,  and  his  giant 
grasp,  crushed  out  the  rebellion  and  conquered  a  peace,  and  inaugurated  the  proudest  career 
for  the  country  ever  recorded  in  history  f  [Cheers.]  Shall  we  turn  our  backs  upon  that 
man  and  put  in  his  place  Horace  Greeley,  whose  nomination  by  the  Cincinnati  Convention 
was  received  with  derisive  laughter  by  the  whole  nation,  who,  of  all  the  prominent  men  of 
this  country  is  the  most  unstable,  the  least  to  be  relied  upon ;  who  is  one  thing  to-day, 
another  thing  to-morrow  ;  who  is,  perhaps,  the  most  prolific  writer  in  this  country  in  favor 
of  protection,  and  yet  accepts  the  nomination  of  a  free- trade  party;  who,  by  his  insane  cry  of 
"On  to  Richmond/'  heralded  through  the  country  by  the  New  York  Tribune,  is  responsible 
more  than  any  other  man  for  the  disaster  of  Bull  Run ;  and  yet,  when  General  Grant  had 
hammered  the  rebellion  out  until  it  was  so  thin  everybody  else  could  see  through  it,  and 
kuew  that  one  grip  more  would  crush  it  like  the  merest  shell,  trembled  with  fear  like  an 
arrant  coward,  and  was  for  giving  up  everything,  acknowledging  '  urselves  beaten,  and 
submitting,  like  whipped  curs,  to  the  dictation  of  the  people  whom  we  had  conquered  ? 

Are  we  going  to  allow  one  of  the  noblest,  one  of  the  purest,  one  of  the  most  successful 
public  servants  we  ever  had  to  be  ignominiouslv  defeated  ?  [Cries  of  "  Never."]  That  man 
who  conquered  and  put  down  the  rebellion,  who  did  more  than  any  other  man  to  liberate 
the  freedmen  and  restore  to  them  their  inherent  and  God-given  rights,  and  who  gave  us  the 
proud  history  of  Donelson,  and  Vicksburg,  and  Petersburg,  and  Appomattox — are  wo 
going  to  allow  him  to  be  defeated  by  Horace  Greeley,  that  man  who  has  sold  himself  for  a 
mess  of  potage,  who  has  bartered  his  soul  and  all  his  life-long  principles  for  the  nomination 
to  the  presidency  by  the  Democratic  party  1  Who  are  the  friends  of  Greeley '/  The  old 
rebel  element  at  the  South,  the  opponents  of  the  war  at  the  North,  Tammany  democrats 
who  are  desperately  anxious  to  get  their  hands  into  the  Treasury,  soreheads,  and  disap- 
pointed office-seekers. 

And  who  are  the  friends  of  Grant  t  The  business  men  of  this  nation,  who  desire  its 
financial  success  and  prosiMjrity,  the  loyal  and  patriotic  element  throughout  the  land,  those 
noble  men  and  women  wno,  by  their  labors,  their  prayers,  and  their  donations,  gave  such 
powerful  moral  encouragement  to  the  Government  during  the  dark  days  of  the  war,  and 
those  brave  men  who  tendered  their  lives  to  the  Republic  and  won  its  victories  on  sea  and 
land. 

We  unfurl  our  national  flag  and  place  thereon,  in  these  presidential  contests,  the  names 


49 

of  Grant  and  Wilson.  How  just  and  appropriate  that  we  place  there,  as  our  candidate,  the. 
name  of  him  who  carried  that  flag  so  triumphantly  through  so  many  glorious  campaigns  and 
throngh  so  many  hard-fought  battles,  and  who,  with  his  sword,  has  won  for  it  a  respect  and 
surrounded  it  with  a  halo  of  glory  such  as  had  never  been  seen  before.  But  what  lover  of 
his  country  would  not  blush  with  shame  and  indignation  to  see  upon  that  flag,  as  a  presi- 
dential candidate,  the  name  of  Jefferson  Davis  ?  But,  gentlemen,  when  you  see  upon  that 
flag  the  name  of  Horace  Greeley,  you  may  just  as  well  read  it  Jefferson  Davis,  for  it  means 
precisely  the  same  thing. 

In  response  to  loud  calls,  General  Stewart  L.  Woodford,  of  New  York,  as- 
cended the  platform  and  spoke  as  follows : — 

SPEECH  OP  GEKERAL  WOODFORD. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  COMRADES — 5Tou  were  citizens  before  you  became  soldiers.  You 
volunteered  at  the  call  of  an  imperi-led  nation,  that  you  might  fulfill  the  highest  duty  of 
citizenship — the  duty  of  offering  life  in  defense  of  fatherland.  When  the  rebellion  had  been 
suppressed — you  were  mustered  out  and  resumed  the  old  avocations  ot  peaceful  industry. 
You  were  and  are  citizens  still.  You  assert  no  claim  to  special  recognition  and  honor  among 
your  fellows  because  of  your  army  service.  You  recognize  that  you  only  sought  to  do  your 
duty.  You  do  not  admit  that,  because  you  were  soldiers  when  the  nation  needed  men  ready 
to  dare,  to  do,  to  die,  you  are,  therefore,  in  these  happy  days  of  peace  to  be  denied  your  equal 
share  in  the  councils  of  the  Government,  your  equal  participation  in  all  the  privileges  as  well 
as  in  all  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship. 

You  do  not  gather  here  to-day  in  these  many  thousands  to  claim  any  right  as  soldiers  to 
rule  the  land  which  as  soldiers  you  saved.  But  you  come  as  citizens,  who,  because  ot  your 
sacrifice  and  service,  believe  that  you  value  this  government  aright,  to  do  what  you  properly 
can  to  keep  the  National  Administration  in  wise,  patriotic,  and  honest  hands. 

While  you  come  with  no  boast  of  the  past,  you  alfio  come  with  no  apology  for  your 
gathering.  You  feel  that  your  comradeship  in  battle  justifies  your  taking  counsel  of  each 
other  as  to  your  duties  in  peace. 

We  have  met  to  say  frankly  and  directly  to  our  comrades,  and  all  the  people,  that  we 
are  still  grateful  to  the  Republican  party  for  all  its  grand  record  and  work. 

It  always,  alike  in  victory  and  defeat,  believed  in  the  cause  for  which  we  fought.  When 
battle  and  disease  thinned  our  ranks,  it  always  sought  to  send  fresh  men  to  the  front.  When 
the  Democratic  party,  in  that  sad  summer  of  1864,  gathered  in  convention,  pronounced  the 
prosecution  of  the  war  a  failure,  and  counseled  surrender,  the  Republican  party  pledged  the 
Government  to  draft  the  last  man  and  expend  the  last  dollar  in  crushing  rebellion  and  main- 
taining the  national  unity.  With  grand  amen  the  nation  responded  to  such  pledge  and  ap- 
peal. Kneeling  among  the  graves  of  our  fallen  soldiers,  the  people  renewed  the  vow  of  Sum- 
ter.  In  that  faith  we  conquered.  Aye,  we  are  grateful  to  the  Republican  party  for  its 
trust  and  resolution,  for  the  sincere  honors  which  it  always  paid  to  our  fallen,  for  its  earnest 
effort  to  care  for  our  disabled  comrades  living,  and  the  widows  and  orphans  of  our  comrades 
dead. 

But,  while  we  thus  come  with  gratitude  to  the  Republican  party,  we  come  with  no  spirit 
of  hate  toward  our  late  antagonists  in  battle.  We  revive  no  memory  of  bitterness.  We 
pluck  no  embers  of  strife  from  out  the  ashes  of  the  past. 

We  respect  the  sincerity  of  the  men  who  were  our  foes  in  open  Conflict,  but  who  are 
now  our  fellows  in  citiaenship  and  in  the  duty  of  a  common  loyalty  to  a  common  country, 
as  only  those  can  respect  them  who  tested  their  endurance  and  valor  on  many  fields. 

We  have  even  forgiven  them  for  Andersonville  and  Libby,  for  we  believed  that  the 
horrors  of  these  prison-pens  sprang  from  the  terrible  teachings  and  influences  of  slavery.  We 
charged  the  crime  upon  slavery,  and  have  never  kept  those  agonies  as  subjects  of  revengeful 
memory  against  the  men  of  the  South  and  soldiers  of  the  rebellion.  We  destroyed  slavery, 
and  then  forgave  Andersonville. 

We  should  never  have  thus  ourselves  referred  to  the  merciful  and  generous  record  of 
the  Union  Army,  had  not  the  constant  attacks  and  misrepresentations  of  a  partisan  press 
rendered  some  brief  words  timely  and  just.  Let  history,  not  mere  profession,  bear  witness. 

Lee  surrendered  his  army.  The  terms  of  that  surrender  were  as  generous  and  humane 
as  any  recorded  in  the  annals  of  civilized  warfare.  Grant  allowed  each  officer  to  keep  his 
4 


50 

iiLrht  f-vl  personal  dishonor.  Each  man  was  permitted  to  retain  his 
niL'ht  return  t<>  his  home,  plow  his  fit-Ids,  and  ma'vc  n-ups  for  the  support  of  his  fam- 
ily.    Suppli- -  d  to  the  beaten  t.»'.     You  are  si!. -utly  recalling  how.  as  by  instinct, 
•  •ned  voiir  haversacks  on  the  Sabbath  morn  of  that  surrender,  and  shared  your  scanty 
\\ith"the  men  whom  you  had  fought  for  four  long,  bloody  years.     You  recall    how, 
\vhrn  Andrew  Johnson,  in  the  first  fren/.y  of  his  paseion,  SOOgbt  to  break  the  terms  of  Grant's 
parole,  to  arrest  Lee  and  place  him  on  trial,  our  chieftain  replied  that,  fo  long  as  the  Confed- 
•oldiers  obeyed  the  law  and  kept  the  peace,  the  parole  at  Appomattox  should  protect 
t IK-HI,  and  tendered  his  resignation  as  General  if  good  faith  was  to  he  violated. 

The  war  being  ended  we  sought  peace.  We  prayed  tor  reconciliation.  We  reached  out 
hands  of  hearty  fellowship  to  all  who  would  accept  such  fellowship  on  the  bat-is  of  sincere 
submission  to  the  law  and  unconditional  loyalty.  From  that  hour  until  now.  we  have  never 
counseled  or  consented  to  any  injustice  or  revenge  towards  the  South.  We  forgave  our 
foe.  Good  faith  and  simple  manhood  required  us  to  secure  an  absolute  protection  to  all 
who  had  been  our  friends  and  allies  at  the  South  during  the  struggle.  Good  faith  and  simple 
manhood  required  us  to  give  this  protection  ourselves,  if  the  men  of  the  South  did  not  grant  it 
themselves. 

This  is  the  whole  spirit  of  the  Constitutional  amendments.  Mercy  could  grant  no  more 
than  absolute  forgiveness  to  our  foe.  Honor  could  consent  to  uo  less  than  absolute  protec- 
tion to  the  loyal  white  and  the  enfranchised  black. 

W'-  de<ire  entire  and  permanent  reconciliation  to-day.  In  war  we  fought  to  preserve 
oar  national  unity,  and  thus  to  obtain  enduring  peace.  In  peace  we  heartily  strive  to  secure 
complete  reconciliation.  That  reconciliation  will  be  most  thorough  and  lasting  which  shall 
be  based  upon  impartial  laws  impartially  enforced.  Thus  it  will  be  strengthened  by  justice 
as  well  as  love. 

When  none  shall  seek  to  coerce  the  votes  of  the  lowly ;  when  education  shall  be  afforded 
to  all  the  children  of  the  land,  black  as  well  as  white ;  when  the  true  dignity  of  labor  shall 
be  recognixed  ;  when,  in  a  word,  not  merely  the  letter,  but  the  practical  administration  of  the 
law  shall  secure  the  personal  and  political  rightsof  all  our  citizens,  throughout  all  the  States, 
reconciliation  will  be  complete.  For  these  ends  let  us  patiently  labor,  in  the  sure  faith,  that 
we  labor  not  in  vain.  We  have  met  to  say  frankly  and  directly  to  our  comrades,  and  to  all 
the  people,  that  we  believe  that  the  continued  ascendency  of  the  Republican  party,  in  the 
council-halls  of  the  nation,  and  in  the  administration  of  the  Government,  is  still  essential  to 
the  full  security  of  the  results  of  the  war;  still  essential  to  the  protection  ot  the  loyal  whites 
and  the  enfranchised  blacks  of  the  South;  still  essential  to  the  certain  payment  oi  their  justly 
df-erved  pensions  to  our  disabled  living  comrades  and  to  the  widows  and  orphans  of  our 
dead ;  still  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  our  financial  credit  and  our  financial  welfare ;  still 
.d  to  the  true  being  of  the  laboring  classes  and  to  the  sure  maintenance  of  that  honora- 
ble peace  with  all  nations,  so  necessarv  to  repair  the  losses  of  war,  to  develop  our  great 
and  varied  material  resources,  and  to  solidify  that  development  into  permanent  prosperity. 

We  have  met  to  say  frankly  and  directly  to  our  commands  and  to  all  the  people,  that 
we  thoroughly  believe  in  Ulysses  8.  Grant  as  President,  just  as  we  believe  in  him  as  soldier. 
That  as  we  knew  him  to  be  brave  in  battle,  we  now  know  him  to  be  faithful  in  peace.  That 
as  we  then  knew  him  to  be  wise  in  plan,  skillful  in  strategy,  and  sure  in  execution,  we  now 
know  him  to  be  practical  in  statesmanship,  merciful  in  policy,  honest  in  administration,  and 
inflexible  in  the  enforcement  ot  the  law..  [Loud  and  prolonged  applause.] 

One  unbroken  line  of  victories,  from  Belmont  to  Appomattox,  the  crushed  rebellion,  and 
:  i-ndered  Confederacy,  placed  his  name  forever  among  the  few  great  captains  of  his- 
tory, and  justified  all  our  faith  in  Ulysses  S.  Grant  as  a  soldier. 

_  The  steady  collection  of  the  revenue ;  the  steady  reduction  of  taxation  ;  the  steady  dimi- 
nution of  the  national  debt;  the  steady  decline  in  the  price  of  gold;  the  steady  inercttM  in 
the  value  of  our  paper  currency  and  of  our  national  bonds ;  the  steady  enforcement  of  the 
the  repression  of  the  Ku-Klux  disorders,  and  the  steady  growth  of  confidence,  and  of 
a  substantial  prosperity  throughout  the  South  ;  the  earnest  and  humane  attempt  to  deal  kindly 
and  justly  with  the  Indian  tribes ;  the  manly  submission  of  personal  judgment  and  will  to  the 
judgment  and  will  of  the  people,  BO  grandly  shown  in  his  cheerful  surrender  of  the  San  Do- 
ne; the  resolute  and  heroic  purpose  to  place  before  the  nations  an  example  of 
settling  their  quarrels  by  peaceful  arbitration  rather  than  by  the  sword,  so  faithfully  carried 
out  in  the  Alabama  negotiations,  and  now  so  happily  crowned  with  success  among"  the  hills 
of  Switzerland  :  all  these  form  an  unbroken  liue  of  peaceful  victories,  which  place  the  name 


of  Ulysses  S.  Grant  forever  among  the  few  great  statesmen  of  the  age,  which  justify  the  love 
of  his  old  comrades,  aiid  deserve  the  gratitude  of  the  nation. 

Such,  in  direct  words,  are  the  reasons  why  we  have  gathered  from  almost  every  State  in 
the  land.  May  the  old  spirit  of  hearty  comradeship,  which  bound  us  so  closely  together  in 
other  days,  still  be  and  abide  with  us. 

As  we  take  each  others'  hands  and  look  in  each  others'  faces,  old  memories  come  back — 
memories  of  the  living  and  the  dead.  With  these  let  us  recall  r.he  high  resolve,  the  pure  pur- 
pose, which  consecrated  our  enlistment.  Let  us  also  recall  the  generous  forgiveness  and 
hearty  fraternity  which  filled  all  hearts  when  the  strife  was  ended. 

Thus  shall  we  take  counsel  together  as  patriots  rather  than  partisans.  Thus  shall  we 
seek  success,  not  for  self  or  section,  but  for  the  good  of  all  our  common  country  and  the 
highest  welfare  of  all  our  fellow-citizens. 

Gov.  Edward  F.  Noyes,  of  Ohio,  was  loudly  called.  On  coining  forward  he 
said : — 

ADDRESS  OP  GOVERNOR  NOYES. 

FELLOW-SOLDIERS — We  are  under  contract  to  leave  this  building  to-night  at  five 
o'clock,  and  I  find  it  is  five  minutes  past  five  now.  Comrades,  we  are  here  to  express 
together  our  continued  confidence  in  the  integrity,  in  the  capacity,  and  in  the  patriotism  of 
our  great  captain.  We  have  come  here  to  enter  our  solemn  protest  against  the  slanders 
which  have  been  heaped  upon  his  name.  We  are  here  also  to  express  our  confidence  in  that 
grand  old  party  which  supported  the  soldiers  while  they  were  fighting  the  buttles  of  the 
nation.  Once  more,  my  friends,  as  we  remember  the  four  years  of  our  bloody  war ;  the  half- 
million  of  our  comrades  who  sleep  the  sleep  that  knows  no  waking ;  as  we  remember  the 
half-million  of  cripples  that  go  up  and  down  the  land  suffering  all  the  twinges  of  pain  that 
weather-changes  bring  soldiers ;  when  we  remember  how  the  black  crape  was  hung  on  your 
doors  ;  as  we  remember  how  you  were  called  upon  to  leave  your  homes  and  make  great 
sacrifices  for  us  while  you  were  fighting  for  our  country,  we  are  not  disposed  to  forget  him 
who  led  us  to  victory  when  all  others  had  failed,  and  saved  an  imperiled  country.  We  have 
met  to  get  inspiration  from  each  other.  We  go  as  missionaries  among  the  people,  to  call  to 
their  minds  the  great  deeds  of  our  leader.  We  rely  upon  the  justice  of  our  cause.  We  hav« 
faith  in  that  God  who  protected  us  during  the  stormy  years  of  war.  We  go  forth  in 
faith  that  we  shall  be  successful.  May  God  prosper  the  right !  [Applause.] 

The  hour  for  adjournment  having  passed,  General  Logan  announced  that  the  Conven- 
tion would  reassemble  promptly  at  10  o'clock  next  day — Wednesday — and  that  the  first 
business  in  order  would  be  the  reception  of  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 
The  proceedings  of  the  day  were  concluded  by  singing  the  long-measure  doxology,  "  Praise 
God  from  whom  all  blessings  flow,"  to  the  tune  of  "Old  Hundred,"  the  audience,  all  stand- 
ing, joining  in  the  singing  of  this  grand  and  impressive  benediction. 

SECOND  DAY'S  PROCEEDINGS. 

WEDNESDAY,  SEPTEMBER  18,  1872. 

At  10  o'clock,  Chairman  Logan  called  the  convention  to  order.  Rev.  John  S.  Sands,  of 
Pittsburg,  offered  the  following  prayer : — 

OPENING  PRAYER. 

O,  Thou  great  God  of  all  nations,  Thou  great  God  of  this  nation,  we  come  before  Thee 
this  morning,  invok  ing  Thy  presence  and  Thy  blessing.  We  thank  Thee  for  this  country  of 
•ours,  with  its  broad  acres,  with  its  teeming  population,  with  its  good  and  wise  government; 
we  thank  Thee,  0  God,  for  its  brave  defenders,  who,  in  the  hour  of  their  country's  danger, 
were  filled  with  a  spirit  of  patriotism,  and  who  went  forth  against  their  enemies  and  imper- 
illed their  lives  in  its  defense ;  we  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  permitted  so  many  of  them  to 
meet  together  on  this  occasion  ;  we  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  blessed  them  in  their  deliber- 
ations during  the  former  sessions  of  this  Convention,  and  we  pray  Thee  that  Thou  wilt  bless 
them  this  morning  and  through  this  day. 

We  thank  Thee,  O  God,  for  all  Thy  blessings ;  we  thank  Thee  for  the  peace,  order,  and 
quiet  of  our  city.  Help  us  while  we  do  honor  to  those  who  in  their  country's  hour  of  dan- 


52 

per  fought  for  their  country's  flag;  and,  while  we  drop  a  tear  in  remembrance  of  those  who 
Lid  their  liven  down  for  their  country's  salvation  and  defense,  oh,  help  us  to  remember  that 
great  sacrifice  once  made  in  which  tin-  Son  of  God  himself  laid  down  his  life  for  us  all. 

-s.  O  God,  the  officers  of  this  convention  ;  bless  the  soldiers  and  sailors  here  assem- 
bled ;  bless  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  all  his  advisers ;  and  bless  all  our  citizens. 

our  refuge  and  our  strength,  lift  us  higher  and  higher  as  a  nation,  till  Thy  glory 
shines  upon  UB.  Grant  us  our  prayer  for  Jesus  sake.  Amen. 

In  the  interval  which  followed  the  prayer,  Nevin  &  Dean's  band,  from  Chicago,  played 
a  medley  which  was  loudly  applauded,  and  the  Welsh  Glee  Club,  of  Pittsburg,  sang  severa ' 
songs  with  fine  effect.  The  Marine  Band,  of  Washington  City,  played  several  selection 
from  operas,  by  request.  The  Committee  on  Resolutions  not  being  ready  to  report,  the  band 
of  the  Forty-seventh  New  York  Regiment  played  "Our  Nation's  Song,"  which  was  loudly 
applauded. 

General  Joseph  C.  Abbott,  of  North  Carolina,  from  the  Committee  of  Res- 
olutions, said: — 

REMARKS  OF   GENERAL  ABBOTT. 

The  Committee  on  Resolutions  have  instructed  me  to  present  the  resolutions  which  I 
Isold  in  my  hand,  as  a  declaration  of  principles  to  be  submitted  to  the  Convention.  I  will 
;>k  the  Secretary  of  the  Convention  to  read  them. 

The  resolutions  were  read  by  the  Secretary,  arid  are  as  follows : — 

RESOLUTIONS  OF  THE  CONVENTION. 

We,  the  soldiers  and  sailors  who  served  in  the  Union  Army  and  Navy  during  the  lato 
war,  in  mass  convention  in  1'ittsburg  assembled,  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  our  firm  con- 
victions upon  issues  which  are  logical  results  of  the  war,  do  affirm  : — 

1.  That  it  is  a  source  of  unmingled  pleasure  to  meet  again,  and,  reviving  the  memories 
of  our  campaign  for  union  and  liberty,  thence  to  draw  lessons  for  present  duty  and  future 
guidance. 

2.  We  reaffirm  our  devotion  to  the  union  of  the  States ;  the  arbitrament  of  war  has 
decreed  that  we  are  one  nation,  with  one  flag,  with  liberty  and  equality  before  the  law  for  all 
men  ;  and  national  authority  is  essential  to  establish,  protect,  and  defend  liberty  and  the  ina- 
lienable rights  of  the  people. 

3.  We  enter  our  solemn  protest  against  transferring  the  control  of  the  Army  and  Navy, 
the  Treasury  and  the  entire  Government,  and  the  Constitutional  Amendments,  with  the  exe- 
cution of  the  laws  themselves,  to  an  unholy  and  corrupt  coalition  composed  chiefly  of  elements 
but  recently  in  open  hostility  to  them  all. 

4.  We  cherish  no  spirit  of  revenge  toward  our  fellow-citizens  of  the  South  ;  the  magna- 
nimity of  our  late  Commander-in-Chief  on  the  field  of  Appomattox  was  a  sufficient  pledge  of 
the  Union  Army  that  the  "bloody  chasm"  of  the  war  was  closed  ;  and  "  with  malice  toward 
none,  but  with  charity  for  all,"  we  extend  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  to  all  those  who 
accept,  in  good  taith,  the  results  of  the  war,  and  who  will  extend  to  every  American  citizen, 
of  whatever  race  or  color,  the  rights  which  are  solemnly  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  and  the  laws  made  in  pursuance  thereof. 


ing  pensions  and  bounded,  and  we  fully  believe  that  any  inequalities  which  may  appeal  will 
be  cheerfully  and  promptly  corrected. 

t>.  We  gladly  and  proudly  reaffirm  our  enthusiastic  confidence  in  the  integrity,  patriotism, 
and  ability  of  President  Grant.  We  point  to  his  messages  for  opinions  and  recommendations 
in  harmony  with  the  most  advanced  political  sentiments.  We  point  to  the  condition  of  the 
country  in  all  its  relations,  foreign  and  domestic,  for  the  proof  that  its  laws  are  well  adminis- 
tered and  its  honor  maintained.  We  rejoice  to  see  associated  with  him  the  incorruptible  and 
indefatigable  patriot  and  representative  man  of  American  institutions,  Henry  Wilson,  of 
Mawacfiusetu 


53 


7.  We  pledge  our  steady  and  earnest  support  to  President  Grant  and  Congress  in  reform- 
ing the  civil  service  and  establishing  the  highest  standard  of  honor  and  fidelity  among  all  the 
servants  of  the  Government. 

8.  Although  this  Convention  is  purely  national  in  its  inception  and  purposes,  we  cannot 
refrain  from  expressing  our  sympathy  and  giving  our  cordial  support  to  our  gallant  comrade 
leading  the  column  in  Pennsylvania,  whose  illustrious  record  as  a  brave  and  faithful  soldier 
should  endear  him  to  every  loyal  heart. 

THANKS  OF  THE  CONVENTION  TO  PITTSBTJRG. 

General  Burnside  said  : — 

Lest  we  might  separate  in  haste,  I  rise  to  make  the  motion  that  we,  as  soldiers  and  sail- 
ors, thank  the  loyal  and  good  people  of  Pittsburg  for  their  kind  treatment  to  us  during  our 
stay  in  their  city,  and  that  the  thanks  of  this  Convention  be  given  to  the  Veterans'  Resident 
Committee,  who  have  in  reality  done  all  the  work  of  giving  us  the  grand  reception  which 
we  have  received. 

The  motion  of  General  Burn  side  was  adopted,  the  Convention  rising  en  masse 
and  cheering  in  response  to  his  suggestion.  A  motion  was  then  made  for  the 
Convention  to  adjourn  sine  die.  Pending  the  adoption  of  this  motion,  General 
Logan,  the  Chairman,  said : — 

REMARKS  OF  GENERAL  LOGAN. 

COMRADES — One  word  before  we  return  to  our  homes.  When  our  enemies  tell  us  to 
be  reconciled  to  those  who  fought  against  the  Government,  let  us  tell  them  that  there  is  no 
reconciliation  required  on  our  part.  We  are  reconciled  to  our  country,  to  its  honor  and 
glory,  to  its  Constitution,  and  to  the  old  banner  of  our  fathers ;  and  when  those  men  who 
draw  their  blades  against  this  Government  become  themselves  reconciled  to  the  old  banner, 
we  will  be  reconciled  to  them.  [Applause.]  It  is  on  their  part,  and  not  on  ours.  Let  us 
go  to  our  homes  in  cities,  towns,  hamlets,  and  villages,  determined  to  carry  the  fruits  of  our 
great  victories  with  us.  Let  not  these,  like  Dead  Sea  fruit,  be  turned  to  ashes  on  our  lips. 
Let  each  man,  when  he  goes  to  his  home,  insist  on  all  his  friends  voting  the  whole  Repub- 
lican ticket.  A  grand  Republican  triumph  is  what  we  want,  and  what  we  must  have,  to 
secure  peace,  happiness,  and  prosperity  in  this  land.  [Applause.] 

At  the  suggestion  of  General  Hawley,  three  rousing  cheers  were  given  for  Grant  and 
Wilson,  after  which  the  members  of  the  Convention  separated,  most  of  them  to  attend  the 
grand  mass  meeting  at  Friendship  Grove,  where  General  B.  F.  Butler,  of  Massachusetts, 
delivered  one  of  the  best  speeches  of  the  campaign.  To  the  disappointment  of  the  National 
Committee  no  report  of  this  speech  was  taken  ;  and  no  synopsis  can  do  adequate  justice  to 
his  masterly  effort  on  this  occasion.  Probably  no  audience  so  large  has  been  assembled  dur- 
ing this  campaign,  and  a  lasting  impression  was  made  upon  the  thousands  gathered  there 
by  his  unanswerable  arguments. 

VETERANS'  NATIONAL  COMMITTEE. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  Veterans'  National  Committee,  appointed 
by  the  Convention : — 


Gen.  A.  E.  Burnside,  Chairman. 
Gen.  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  Vice-Chairman. 
Col.  L.  E.  Dudley,  Secretary. 
Arkansas — Gen.  Powell  Clayton. 
Alabama — Major  R.  M.  Reynolds. 
California — Col.  W.  E.  Me  Arthur. 
Connecticut — Gen.  J.  R.  Hawley. 
Delaware— Lieut.  John  M.  Dunn. 
Florida — Gen.  Charles  M.  Hamilton. 
Georgia — Sergt.  William  H.  Thomas. 
Indiana — Gen.  Nathan  Kimball. 
Illinois — Gen.  Julius  White. 
Iowa — Capt.  J.  R.  Hammond. 


Kansas — Major  J.  C.  Wilkinshaw. 
Kentucky — Capt.  P.  S.  Reeves. 
Louisiana — Lieut.  W.  H.  Webster. 
Maine — Gen.  Selden  Conner. 
Massachusetts — Gen.  Horace  Binney  Sargent. 
Michigan — Major  E.  B.  Wright. 
Minnesota — Gen.  J.  H.  Baker. 
Missouri — Gen.  John  S.  Cavender. 
Mississippi — Capt.  H.  R.  Pease. 
Maryland— Major  W.  L.  Vanderlip. 
New  Hampshire— Gen.  S.  G.  Griffin. 
New  York— Col.  L.  E.  Dudley. 
Nevada — No  one  named. 


54 


X-\v  Jersey— Col.  F.  IT.  Harris. 

:a— (M-II.  John   -M.  'I': 
North  Carolina — Gen.  Allen  Rutherford. 
Ohio — Gen.  James  B.  Baniett. 
Oregon — No  one  named. 
Pennsylvania — Gen.  A.  L.  Pearson. 
1 : In  "It*  Island — Gen.  Chas.  K.  Brayton. 
South  Carolina — 
Tennessee — Gen.  R.  F.  Patterson. 
Texas — Major  Thomas  Smith. 
Vermont — 


Virginia — Co^S.  E.  Chamberlain. 

West  Virginia— Capt.  John  Carlin. 

Wisconsin— Col.  Thomas  Reynolds. 

Arizona — Col.  Drake  De  K 

Colorado — Gen.  Ed.  S.  McCook. 

Dakota — Gen.  Edwin  McCook. 

Montana— Col.  L.  B.  Church. 

New  Mexico — Col.  William  Breeden. 

Washington — 

District  oi  Columbia — Gen.  N.  P.  Chipmau. 

At  Large — Gen.  A.  E.  Burnside. 


EXECUTIVE   COMMITTEE. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Committee,  held  at  Pittsburg,  the  chairman  was  di- 
to  announce  an  Executive  Committee,  of  which  the  officers  of  the  Gen- 
eral Committee  should  be  ex-officw  members  and  officers.  In  accordance  with 
tli:it  resolution,  the  chairman  has  announced  the  following  named  veterans  ;io 
said  committee : — 

Gen.  Horace  Binney  Sargent,  Massachusetts.  Gen.  Allen  Rutherford,  North  Carolina. 
Gen.  J.  H.  Baker,  Minnesota.  Col.  Drake  De  Kay,  Arizona. 

Col.  F,  H.  Harris,  New  Jersey. 


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